Increasing Fruit and Vegetable Consumption by Utilizing Social Media

Social media can be used to increase fruit and vegetable consumption among the younger generation.

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

Actor Muhammad Khan enjoyed his lunch consisting of salad and boiled organic vegetables on the balcony of his apartment in the Dharmawangsa area of South Jakarta, to be shared on his social media account, in early September 2021.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Activities on social media influence the consumption patterns of the younger generation who spend a lot of time in the digital space. Recent research at Aston University, England, revealed that social media can be used to increase fruit and vegetable consumption.

Researchers found that people who followed healthy food accounts on social media for two weeks ate more fruit and vegetables. Meanwhile, consumption of junk food tends to be less.

The report on the results of this research has been published in Sage Journals, Wednesday (24/4/2024). The research involved dozens of volunteer social media users with an average age of 22 years. They are divided into two groups classified based on the accounts they follow on social media.

KOMPAS/ABDULLAH FIKRI ASHRI

Residents check vegetables planted in polybags in the Posyandu yard of Sukaimut Village, Garawangi District, Kuningan Regency, West Java, February 2021.

The issue of air pollution is not new. The community's condition of being threatened by air pollution has been going on for a long time. There is also no shortage of research evidence indicating the threats of its impacts. However, this has not yet been able to encourage significant efforts in controlling air pollution. As a result, residents are increasingly suffering under the siege of air pollution. The first group of volunteers, known as the intervention group, followed a healthy food Instagram account, while the second group of volunteers, named the control group, followed an account that explained interior design.

Also read: Fruit and Vegetables in the Middle of a Low Nutrient Ecosystem

The experiment lasted for two weeks. Participants were asked to record what they ate and drank during that period of time. As a result, volunteers in the first group consumed more fruits and vegetables compared to before they participated in the experiment.

"This new pilot study shows that social media intervention has successfully encouraged healthier eating habits with significant impact after two weeks. Therefore, social media platforms can be the appropriate tool to promote healthy eating habits," was written in the research findings.

Small changes on social media lead to big improvements in eating patterns.

People already know that consuming fruit and vegetables is good for health. However, campaigns to get used to eating healthy foods are not always successful. Many people, especially the younger generation, are more interested injunk food.

The first author of the study, Lily Hawkins, said that the trial in the study showed that social media interventions can encourage a person's consumption patterns to become better. "Now we want to understand if this can be replicated in a larger community sample," she said, as quoted from Sciencedaily.com on Friday (26/4/2024).

A National Health Service (NHS) health survey study for England in 2018 showed that only 28 percent of the country's population consumed the recommended five portions of fruits and vegetables per day. The low consumption of these foods is correlated with heart disease, cancer, and stroke.

Also read: Eating Fruit and Vegetables is Equivalent to Walking Eight Days

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

Workers transport vegetables to be sent from the Cepogo Vegetable Market, Cepogo District, Boyolali, Central Java, March 2020.

This has prompted several parties to campaign for healthier consumption patterns. Placing posters in canteens to encourage vegetable consumption or in bars to prevent consumption of harmful amounts of alcoholic beverages has been done.

Due to its increasingly massive use, social media can be utilized to spread positive information related to consuming fruits and vegetables, especially among the younger generation. Another researcher, Jason Thomas, stated that the study is an interesting finding because it shows that small changes on social media have a big impact on improving eating patterns.

"Research is very important to examine whether the intervention truly changes our perception of what others consume and whether this intervention produces long-lasting effects," he said.