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. 2022 Sep 28:9:981204.
doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.981204. eCollection 2022.

Infodemiology on diet and weight loss behavior before and during COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia: Implication for public health promotion

Ira Dewi Ramadhani  1 , Leny Latifah  2 , Andjar Prasetyo  3 , Marizka Khairunnisa  2 , Yurika Fauzia Wardhani  2 , Diah Yunitawati  2 , Mochammad Fahlevi  4
Affiliations

Infodemiology on diet and weight loss behavior before and during COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia: Implication for public health promotion

Ira Dewi Ramadhani et al. Front Nutr. .

Abstract

Objective: This study set out to explore public interest through information search trends on diet and weight loss before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia.

Methods: The Google Trends database was evaluated for the relative internet search popularity on diet-related search terms, including top and rising diet-related terms. The search range was before and during the COVID-19 pandemic (April 2018 to January 2022) in the Indonesia region. We analyzed the Relative Search Volume (RSV) data using line charts, correlation, and comparison tests.

Results: Search queries of "lose weight" was higher during the pandemic (58.34 ± 9.70 vs. 68.69 ± 7.72; p<0.05). No difference was found in diet-related searches before and after the pandemic. Public interest in the diet was higher after Eid al-Fitr (Muslims break fasting celebration day) and after the new year. Many fad diet (FD) terms were found on the top and rising terms.

Conclusion: After Eid al-Fitr and the new year were susceptible times for promoting a healthy diet in Indonesia. Potential need found before those times for education in inserting healthy food among fatty and sugary menus related to holidays and celebrations. Higher interest in "lose weight" was relevant to heightened obesity risk during the social restriction and heightened COVID-19 morbidity and mortality due to obesity. The high interest for rapid weight loss through FD needs to be resolved by promoting healthy diets with a more captivating message and messenger, like consistently using top terms in the keywords of the official healthy diet guidance. Future research could explore the relationship between diet and other behavior or with non-communicable diseases.

Keywords: Google trends; diet; health promotion; infodemiology; loss weight.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Timeline according to the topic of diet-related queries and periods (before and during the COVID-19 pandemic).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Box plots of the RSV Topics before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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