Exploring nutritional supplement use for countering respiratory tract infections through an X (formerly Twitter)-based survey

• Over half of respondents use nutritional supplements to manage respiratory infections. • Frequently used supplements included vitamins D and C, minerals, honey, garlic, and ginger. • Sentiment analysis showed public trust and positivity toward supplements for respiratory health. • The study showed social media’s value in collecting large-scale data for health-related research. Respiratory tract infections are a common health issue, driving interest in preventive strategies like nutritional supplements, while evidence on their usage and effectiveness remains limited. In this context, social media platforms, particularly X (formerly Twitter), provide a unique opportunity to gather large-scale public health-related data. In this study, we aimed to survey participants’ uses and opinions on nutritional supplements in prevention or treatment of respiratory tract infections, by using X. A survey was conducted between 1st and 15th December 2022. A single open-ended question “Which are the best dietary supplements to counteract respiratory infections?“ was asked. One week after the start of the survey, a poll was posted to get more relevant information and boost the survey’s reach. Total endorsements were calculated for each tweet posted as the total sum of replies, retweets, and likes. The open-ended question received a total of 118 retweets, 39 quotes, and 371 likes, while the poll received 56 retweets, 13 quotes, and 67 likes. A total of 495 replies, 2,251 retweets, 5,118 likes, and 148 quotes were received for the question and its related tweets. Vitamin D (1,607 endorsements), zinc (1,347 endorsements), vitamin C (803 endorsements), magnesium (694 endorsements), and honey (661 endorsements) were the nutritional supplements that received most endorsements. Various foods, drinks, and natural ingredients have been suggested as potentially helpful for counteracting respiratory infections. Approximately half of respondents indicated using such supplements for themselves. The result of this study supports the idea that the X platform can be used as an effective survey tool to study global health-related behaviours and trends.

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Publication Details

Journal
Current Research in Biotechnology
Published
2025-01-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crbiot.2025.100282
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Social Media in Health Education
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
4.33

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article

Exploring nutritional supplement use for countering respiratory tract infections through an X (formerly Twitter)-based survey

Shaikat Mondal, Francesca Giampieri, Agnieszka Kamińska, Dalibor Hrg et al.
2 citations
Current Research in Biotechnology
Social Media in Health Education
4.33
article

Exploring nutritional supplement use for countering respiratory tract infections through an X (formerly Twitter)-based survey

Shaikat Mondal, Francesca Giampieri, Agnieszka Kamińska, Dalibor Hrg, Shravan Kumar Paswan, Emad M. Abdallah, Ankit Kumar Dubey, Ronita De, Samrina Hussain, Harald Willschke, Lucian Hriţcu, Garba M. Khalid, Parasuraman Aiya Subramani, Nishat Jahan, Neeraj Kumar Sethiya, Faizan Akram, Mohammad Akhlaquer Rahman, Monica Gulati, Atallah F. Ahmed, Luciana Rossi, Siva Sai Chandragiri, Merisa Cenanovic, Fabien Schultz, Maurizio Battino, Gian Luigi Russo, José Carlos Andrade, Anupam Bishayee, Olena Litvinova, Girish Kumar Gupta, Saïd Amrani, Pravin Badhe, Farhan Bin Matin, Vandana Garg, Lorenz Kapral, Shailja Singla, Nikolay Tzvetkov, Eoghan J. Mulholland, Davide Barreca, Javier Echeverría, Monika Michalczuk, Maima Matin, Rupinder Kaur Sodhi, Fuad Al‐Rimawi, Thomas Efferth, Anna Maria Louka, Aminu Abdullahi, Nady Braidy, Claudiu T. Supuran, Ronan Lordan, Bernd L. Fiebich, Sara Frazzini, Sara Di Lonardo, Smith B. Babiaka, Jamil Ahmad, Jennifer R. Depew, Amit Kumar Singh, Mihnea‐Alexandru Găman, Sharad Vats, Vasil Radoslavov Pirgozliev, Jivko Stoyanov, Helen Sheridan, Sahar Behzad, Awanish Mishra, Sadeeq Muhammad Sheshe, Antonello Santini, Vineet Mittal, Rajeev K. Singla, José M. Álvarez-Suárez, Artur Stolarczyk, Michał Ławiński, Muhammad Fasih Ur Rahman, Bikash Baral, Michael Heinrich, Ourlad Alzeus G. Tantengco, Yugal Kishore Mohanta, Rambod Abiri, Akolade R. Oladipupo, Neeraj Choudhary, Aleksei Tikhonov, Rehab Α. Rayan, João Dias-Ferreira, Rohit Gundamaraju, Amr El‐Demerdash, Marek Wieczorek, Olga Adamska, Albena T. Dinkova‐Kostova, Sandeep R. Pai, Nina Strzałkowska, Gareeballah Osman Adam, Abhilasha Singh, Himel Mondal, Emil D. Parvanov, Jesús Simal‐Gándara, Vivek P. Chavda, Joy Ifunanya Odimegwu, Prabhakar Semwal, Atanas G. Atanasov, Alessandra Durazzo, Johra Khan, Pritt Verma, Ioana Berindan‐Neagoe, Hari Prasad Devkota, Tanuj Joshi, Ananda Kumar Chettupalli, Kiran Patni, Valeria Pittalà, Elena González‐Burgos, Abdulkadir Yusif Maigoro, Mario Štefanović, Muhammad Asim Masoom Zubair, Qushmua Alzahrani, Jarosław Olav Horbańczuk, Okyaz Eminağa, Nikola M. Stojanović, Shafaat Yar Khan, Antonio García‐Ríos, Dinesh Kumar Chellappan, Carmela Fimognari, Kiran R. Kharat, George Perry, Rupesh K. Gautam, Bodrun Naher Siddiquea, İlkay Erdoğan Orhan, Massimo Lucarini, Salvatore Parisi, Bairong Shen, Leif‐Alexander Garbe, Artur Jóźwik, Zahra Emam‐Djomeh, Nour‐Eddine Es‐Safi, Reecha Madaan, Michel‐Edwar Mickael, Michael P. Okoh, Omar M. Atrooz, Hemanth Kumar Boyina, Tomasz M. Karpiński, Gitishree Das, Dongdong Wang, Rajan Logesh, Bhupinder Kapoor, Jayanta Kumar Patra, Valentin Ritschl, Devesh Tewari, Soojin Lee, Rohit Sharma, Gökhan Zengin, Azazahemad A. Kureshi, Hammad Ullah, Surya Kant Tripathi, Sourav S. Patnaik, Christian Villanueva, Aleksandra Zielińska, Muhammad Riaz, Mila Emerald, Alejandro Cifuentes, Scarlett Perez Olea, Aman Upaganlawar, DucSon NguyenTrung Le, Suresh Kumar, Andy Wai Kan Yeung, Neeraj Rani, Hitesh Chopra, Bey Hing Goh, Joanna Bensz, Granica Sebastian, Ewelina Zima-Kulisiewicz, Witkowska Anna Maria
article en
2 citations

Abstract

• Over half of respondents use nutritional supplements to manage respiratory infections. • Frequently used supplements included vitamins D and C, minerals, honey, garlic, and ginger. • Sentiment analysis showed public trust and positivity toward supplements for respiratory health. • The study showed social media’s value in collecting large-scale data for health-related research. Respiratory tract infections are a common health issue, driving interest in preventive strategies like nutritional supplements, while evidence on their usage and effectiveness remains limited. In this context, social media platforms, particularly X (formerly Twitter), provide a unique opportunity to gather large-scale public health-related data. In this study, we aimed to survey participants’ uses and opinions on nutritional supplements in prevention or treatment of respiratory tract infections, by using X. A survey was conducted between 1st and 15th December 2022. A single open-ended question “Which are the best dietary supplements to counteract respiratory infections?“ was asked. One week after the start of the survey, a poll was posted to get more relevant information and boost the survey’s reach. Total endorsements were calculated for each tweet posted as the total sum of replies, retweets, and likes. The open-ended question received a total of 118 retweets, 39 quotes, and 371 likes, while the poll received 56 retweets, 13 quotes, and 67 likes. A total of 495 replies, 2,251 retweets, 5,118 likes, and 148 quotes were received for the question and its related tweets. Vitamin D (1,607 endorsements), zinc (1,347 endorsements), vitamin C (803 endorsements), magnesium (694 endorsements), and honey (661 endorsements) were the nutritional supplements that received most endorsements. Various foods, drinks, and natural ingredients have been suggested as potentially helpful for counteracting respiratory infections. Approximately half of respondents indicated using such supplements for themselves. The result of this study supports the idea that the X platform can be used as an effective survey tool to study global health-related behaviours and trends.

Current Research in BiotechnologyVol. 9
Chandigarh University (IN), INTI International University (MY), Qassim University (SA), Chungnam National University (KR), Dongguk University (KR), Mutah University (JO), Sichuan University (CN), The University of Agriculture, Peshawar (PK), Clinical Emergency Hospital Bucharest (RO), Indian Institute of Management Indore (IN), Jahrom University of Medical Sciences (IR), Film Independent (US), Neubrandenburg University of Applied Sciences (DE), Alborz University of Medical Sciences (IR), All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Deoghar (IN), University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (US), Romanian Academy (RO), Indian Institute of Technology Indore (IN), Saveetha University (IN), Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (DE)
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Zero hunger
Openalex Percentile: Top 8%
Social Media in Health Education
4.33
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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