Search for a command to run...
Social media has become a major source of nutrition information among adults; however, its influence on eating attitudes and potential connections to disordered eating remain insufficiently examined. This study explored the relationship between excessive social media engagement, exposure to nutrition-related content, and disordered eating tendencies among 385 adults aged 18 to 65 who were recruited online. Participants completed validated scales, including the Social Media Addiction Scale, REZZY Eating Disorder Scale (the Turkish-validated adaptation of the SCOFF screening tool), and the Social Media Influence on Eating Behavior Scale (SESMEB). Excessive social media exposure positively associated with disordered eating symptoms (β=0.341, P <0.001). The analysis showed that individuals with higher social media addiction scores were more likely to believe that nutrition-related content they see online affects their eating behavior (β=0.623, P <0.001). Individuals frequently exposed to dieting or fast-food–related content demonstrated significantly higher scores compared with those following health-promoting recipe content ( P <0.001). Longer daily usage of social media (>4h) and higher trust in online nutrition content further predicted vulnerability to media-driven dietary attitudes. Higher engagement with nutrition-related content on social media was linked to increased susceptibility to media-driven eating attitudes and elevated disordered eating risk. Strengthening evidence-based nutrition communication and improving users’ digital literacy may help mitigate these effects.