Risk of Instagram Dieting Trends on Eating Behaviour and Body Satisfaction in Women of Different Age and Body Mass Index

Abstract The social media platform Instagram popularises a “healthy eating” movement, but some of its trends may be harmful. We assessed the risk of viewing #cleaneating and #whatieatinaday content on eating behaviours using adapted items from a short version of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) and body satisfaction using the Body Image States Scale (BISS). A total of 403 women aged 18–78 years recruited through snowball and opportunity sampling were randomised into three study groups: #cleaneating ( n = 140), #whatieatinaday ( n = 141) and #nature ( n = 122) as control. Participants completed online EDE-Q (lower score indicated more disordered eating behaviour) and BISS scales before and after viewing the content of their assigned hashtag. Post-exposure EDE-Q or BISS scores below pre-exposure (baseline) scores were defined as deficit scores. Logistic regression, adjusted for age and BMI, and presented as odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), was used to compare deficit scores between study groups. The overall baseline mean (SD) age was 26.7 years (11.7), BMI 23.3 kg/m 2 (3.6), EDE-Q 2.7 (1.0) and BISS scores 5.6 (0.8), which were similar between study groups. Compared to control (#nature), EDE-Q scores were reduced after exposure to #cleaneating and #whatieatinaday (ANOVA: P < 0.001), and there was an increased risk for having deficit EDE-Q scores after exposure to #cleaneating: OR = 2.86 (95% CI = 1.68–4.90), and to #whatieatinaday: OR = 2.58 (95% CI = 1.52–4.39). The corresponding ORs were higher in younger age (18–21 years) but similar in different BMI categories. Exposure to #cleaneating or #whatieatinaday did not change BISS scores. A single exposure to #cleaneating and #whatieatinaday content on Instagram may encourage disordered eating behaviours, especially in younger women. Future research should examine the effects of this type of diet advice media on all genders, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic, educational and marital status, as well as LGBTQ + identity, over the longer term and after exposure to video-based content.