Food and mood: how clean eating content on social media influences affect and body satisfaction in women

Abstract

Introduction: Body-related content is omnipresent in social media. Its consumption has shown to impact body image and affect. Clean eating content is often related to body-related content but its relation to the aforementioned constructs has not been examined. Methods: In an experimental study, 129 female individuals viewed clean eating or “foodie” content (control condition) on Instagram profiles for 5 min. Positive and negative affect, as well as body satisfaction were measured before and afterwards. We also assessed the behavioral choice of a food after profile viewing, and whether pre-existing vulnerabilities (body dissatisfaction, eating disorder or orthorexic symptoms) impact the change in affect and body satisfaction. Results: There was no significant profile × time interaction effect for positive affect, however it decreased over time (pη2 = 0.21). Negative affect was reduced after foodie content consumption as opposed to the respective other profile (pη2 > 0.03). An additional interaction effect in body satisfaction did not substantiate in simple main effects. Pre-existing vulnerabilities did not impact reactivity of individuals to CE content. Discussion: There was no impact of profile on choice of foods. The change in positive affect underlines previously shown potentially detrimental effects of Instagram consumption in general. The findings also give tentative hints toward the potential negative influence of clean eating content consumption on affect and body dissatisfaction. Thus, also a focus on clean eating might need to be incorporated when targeting media literacy in prevention programs.