The relationship between social media use and addiction and mindful eating, health literacy and nutrition literacy in adults

This study aimed to determine the relationship between social media use and addiction and mindful eating, health literacy and nutrition literacy in adults. A total of 405 volunteers between the ages of 19-60 participated in the study. Participants provided general information, anthropometric measurements, health information, information about their social media usage, and responses to the Mindful Eating Questionnaire (MEQ), Health Literacy Index (HLI), Digital Healthy Diet Literacy Scale (DHDL), and Social Media Addiction Form (SMAF). Women's average age was 30.36±11.89 and men's was 28.18±10.74 years. The average body mass index (BMI) for women was 22.8±4.2 kg/m and 25.0±4.0 for men. Woman participants scored an average of 2.28±.34 on the MEQ, 102.51±16.41 on HLS-EU, 21.40±11.95 on DHDL, and 2.27±.71 on SMAF. Man participants scored an average of 2.30±.34 on the MEQ, 100.84±14.69 on HLS-EU, 21.13±11.89 on DHDL, and 2.67±2.49 on SMAF. Significant relationships were found between different dimensions of social media usage and age, education level, employment status, and physical activity level. There was a positive relationship between social media addiction and mindful eating, and a negative relationship between health literacy, and social media addiction (p<0.05). However, no significant relationship was found between digital healthy diet literacy and social media addiction. There was a negative relationship between health literacy and, mindful eating and a positive relationship between digital healthy diet literacy and health literacy (p<0.05). No significant relationship was found between mindful eating and digital healthy diet literacy. In conclusion, social media usage has different effects on mindful eating, health literacy, and digital healthy diet literacy. Efficient use of social media can help individuals become more knowledgeable about nutrition and health-related topics. How one uses social media can change the scores of mindful eating and health literacy.