What health risk factors are brought by the most popular Lithuanian influencers in social networks?

BACKGROUND: Considering that content created by influencers in social networks might act as risk factor to health, we aimed to assess the prevalence of lifestyle-related risk factors in posts published by Lithuanian influencers on Facebook and Instagram. MATERIAL AND METHODS: All publicly available posts created by 12 most popular Lithuanian influencers on Facebook or Instagram between 1 Jan and 31 Dec of 2022 were included. The content analysis of the posts was performed in the structured manner. Information about foods, smoking, alcohol, physical activity, body type and mental health factors was registered and compared between the networks. RESULTS: A total number of 4075 posts were analysed. 30% of the posts presented foods. Among these posts, fast food was presented in 8.9%, sweets - in 45%, fried food - in 60%, vegetables - in 67%, fruits and berries - in 45%, cereals - in 44%, milk and dairy products - in 10%, eggs - 3%, meat - in 28%, seafood - in 14% and food supplements - in 1%. Sweets more often were presented on Facebook (15% vs 12%), fast food - on Instagram (4% vs 2%). Alcoholic beverages were presented in 3% of posts, more frequently - on Instagram (7% vs 1%). Smoking was presented in 0.4% of the posts, more frequently - on Instagram (0.8% vs 0.2%). Physical activity was presented in 10% of the posts. Slim body was presented in 2% of the posts, overweight body - in 16%, obese - in 2%. Barely covered body was presented in 10% of posts, more frequently - on Instagram (15% vs 6%). Aesthetic procedures were presented in 31% of posts, more frequently - on Instagram (46% vs 20%). Luxury was presented in 10% of posts, more frequently - on Instagram (17% vs 6%). Bullying was observed in 4% of posts, more frequently - on Facebook (5% vs 3%). CONCLUSIONS: Presentation of fast food, smoking, alcohol, slim body, aesthetic procedures and luxury was more frequent on Instagram, sweets, overweight body, bullying and physical activity - on Facebook. KEY MESSAGES: • Both healthy and unhealthy foods are presented with similar frequency on social networks – this might lead to the overconsumption of unhealthy foods. • Although the prevalence of risk factors was observed on both social networks, some of them were more often in Facebook, some – on Instagram. This should be taken into account during the interventions.