A systematic analysis of the quality of online nutrition information relating to autism and diet available on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter)

This abstract was awarded the student prize for best poster presentation. Online nutrition information is an important point of reference for the general population, with the potential to influence food choices and dietary behaviours (1) . Current lack of regulation of nutrition and health content on social media (SM) allows the rapid spread of inaccurate, contradictory and often poor-quality information (2) . Autism is a complex spectrum of neurodevelopmental differences that has been increasingly diagnosed in recent years (3) . Dietary approaches are popular for symptom management, but neurodivergent brains may find it challenging to navigate and filter the huge volume of nutrition information available on SM. This study aimed to explore the quality and tone of online written nutrition information around diet and autism on the SM platform X to better support those with autism to find good quality nutrition information on SM. Keyword searches were conducted systematically using synonyms for 'diet’ and 'autism’ and related X posts were captured for a ten-day period in April 2024. A validated online quality assessment tool (OQAT) (4) was used to classify the source and content type and to assess the quality of shared written nutrition information articles. Ten questions covering currency, credibility and reliability criteria were each scored manually to give a total score per article between 0-10, with higher scores equating to better quality (poor 0-2: satisfactory 3-6: high 7-10). A web-based sentiment detection tool, 'Sentigem (5) ', was used to analyse the text of data, indicating its polarity as positive, negative or neutral. The search strategy returned a total of 596 X posts, with most being classified as irrelevant short-form SM discourse. Application of inclusion/exclusion criteria identified 10 relevant news articles and 18 blogs for OQAT analysis. News articles had a higher mean total OQAT score than blogs at 6.6 (SD 1.65) and 5.3 (SD 2.05) respectively (p=0.09), although both were of satisfactory quality (3-6/10). Individual post OQAT data suggested that nutrition writers might improve article quality by including an author biography, quoting a specialist and linking to peer reviewed science articles. A predominantly negative sentiment (52%) was conveyed by the data. The quality of written nutrition information relating to diet and autism available on the SM platform X is variable. News articles tend to be of better quality than blogs, although results were statistically insignificant. Future challenges involve ensuring that SM users have access to clear, credible and consistent nutrition information. Regulation is needed, preferably via a multi-agency collaborative approach to limit the spread of false information. Nutrition professionals should be encouraged to develop their SM skills to create and share engaging, evidence-based content. Individuals with autism would be advised to seek out original nutrition articles written or shared by trusted nutrition professionals with appropriate qualifications.