Relationships among nutrition knowledge level, healthy eating obsessions, body image, and social media usage in females: a cross-sectional study

• Published in: BMC public health Vol. 25; no. 1; pp. 1711 - 14
• Main Authors: Sahin, Elif, Sanlier, Nevin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central 09.05.2025; BioMed Central Ltd; BMC
• Subjects: Addictions; Addictive behaviors; Adolescent; Adult; Analysis; Biostatistics; Body dissatisfaction; Body image; Body Image - psychology; Body image disfunction; Body image disorder; Body mass index; Body size; Breastfeeding & lactation; Care and treatment; Correlation; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diagnosis; Diet; Diet, Healthy - psychology; Digital media; Eating; Eating behavior; Eating disorders; Environmental Health; Epidemiology; Female; Females; Food; Health aspects; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Healthy eating obsession; Humans; Knowledge; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental disorders; Middle Aged; Nutrition; Nutrition research; Obsessive Behavior - psychology; Orthorexia nervosa; Perceptions; Psychological aspects; Public Health; Questionnaires; Self image; Social aspects; Social media; Social Media - statistics & numerical data; Social networks; Social perception; Sports nutrition; Statistical analysis; Surveys; Surveys and Questionnaires; Vaccine; Womens health; Young Adult; Turkey; Body image disorder; Healthy eating obsession; Social media; Body dissatisfaction; Body image disfunction; Nutrition knowledge; Orthorexia nervosa
• ISSN: 1471-2458; 1471-2458
• DOI: 10.1186/s12889-025-22689-1

Background This study examined the relationships among female’s nutrition knowledge levels, diet practices, healthy eating obsessions, body perceptions, and social media usage. Subjects and methods The study included 613 voluntarily participating females aged 18–60 years. Data including demographic information, anthropometric measurements, whether they follow a diet or not, and ORTO-R, Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ-34), Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), and General and Sport Nutrition Knowledge (GeSNK) Scale scores were collected. Results The participants’ mean age was 28.47 ± 9.38 years. Mean scores were 17.5 ± 5.1 for the ORTO-R scale, 89.2 ± 40.2 for the BSQ-34, 38.6 ± 12.5 for the GeSNK, and 17.3 ± 6.1 for the BSMAS. Statistically significant differences were found among the participants’ total ORTO-R, BSQ-34, and GeSNK scores according to body mass index (BMI) and education level. Statistically significant relationships were also found among total ORTO-R, BSMAS, BSQ-34, and GeSNK scores. ORTO-R scores were positively correlated with BSMAS ( r  = 0.475, p  < 0.05) and BSQ-34 ( r  = 0.685, p  < 0.05) scores, while they were negatively correlated with GeSNK scores ( r  = -0.117, p  < 0.05). There was a positive correlation between BMI and BSQ-34 scores ( r  = 0.380, p  < 0.001) and between BMI and ORTO-R scores ( r  = 0.130, p  < 0.001), while there was a negative correlation ( r  = -0.176, p  < 0.001) between BMI and GeSNK scores. Conclusions Social media is a fast, important, and effective tool for the sharing of information. Thus, social media may be effective in strengthening individuals’ nutrition knowledge, nutrition obsessions, body perceptions. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide training for individuals to use social media consciously and providing nutritional literacy will be effective.