Nutripedia: The Fight against the Fake News in Nutrition during Pregnancy and Early Life

Abstract

(1) Background. Early nutrition and lifestyle before and during pregnancy, breastfeeding, infancy, and early childhood can affect the risk of developing common non-communicable diseases during adulthood such as obesity and metabolic syndrome. To support positive long-term outcomes, it is essential to debunk fake news and provide evidence-based nutritional recommendations. “Nutripedia-Informati per Crescere” is a new tool delivering information and education on appropriate nutrition of mothers and babies during pregnancy and the first years of life. (2) Methods. Nutripedia provides the readers with evidence-based scientific contents in an easy-to-access fashion through a website, a social media page and a personalized advice app called “Nutripedia Chatbot”. (3) Results. Forty articles were published on Nutripedia website with more than 220,000 total views. Social channel activation via bloggers reached over 9 million parents. 14,698 users downloaded Nutripedia chatbot, through which a total of 1930 questions were directed to experts while over 24,000 responses were provided by the app. (4) Conclusions. The use of different communication tools delivering evidence-based nutritional information such as Nutripedia is increasing and could offer supportive strategies to provide scientific information to large audiences and contribute fighting fake news. Future research could investigate the effectiveness of this important health campaign.

Evaluating Messaging on Prenatal Health Behaviors Using Social Media Data: Systematic Review

“…Another 2 studies were on the topics of weight gain, nutrition, and the importance of seeking prenatal care [ 32 , 33 ]. The remaining studies targeted seeking prenatal care if experiencing decreased fetal movements [ 34 ], healthy weight gain during pregnancy [ 35 ], maternal smoking [ 36 ], and nutrition during pregnancy [ 37 ]. All the included articles were published between 2016 and 2022.…”

“…Miller et al [ 36 ] in their study about informing women about the risks of maternal smoking reported more comments showing skepticism or disbelief (n=44) toward the message than comments showing support or belief (n=25), some of which said that the message was not believed or that there was no proof for it. By looking at comments posted on their social media platforms and blogs, Verduci et al [ 37 ] claimed that the website was helpful in increasing knowledge and awareness of the importance of nutrition during pregnancy. Parackal et al [ 20 ] noted the low acceptability of the campaign targeting alcohol consumption during pregnancy, with typical comments including words such as “stupid.”…”

“…Not all studies provided the same metrics, making any direct comparison between campaigns impossible. However, the highest number of impressions (115,450 on Facebook) was provided by Miller et al [ 36 ], the highest number of views (201,754 on Facebook videos) was provided by Parackal et al [ 20 ], and the highest number of likes (19,600 likes on the Facebook page) was provided by Verduci et al [ 37 ].…”

Eating for 2: A Systematic Review of Dutch App Stores for Apps Promoting a Healthy Diet during Pregnancy

“…In recent years, various mHealth apps have been developed to support women throughout their pregnancy, which has proven to positively affect self-management ( 11 , 12 ). In fact, of all health topics, most health apps on the market relate to pregnancy ( 13 ).…”

The Era of Precision Nutrition in the Field of Reproductive Health and Pregnancy

“…The issue of misinformation in the area of nutrition during pregnancy and later after delivery is rising nowadays, especially due to the uncontrollable spread of unscientific information via social media. The article by Verduci E et al [ 7 ] underscored the significance of countering false information on pregnancy-related materials with trustworthy sources by introducing Nutripedia or “Nutripedia-Informati per Crescere” as a parent-oriented project and an online platform (a website, a Facebook page, and an app for IOS and Android) to educate pregnant women and to share scientific-based nutritional knowledge, especially during preconception, pregnancy and early childhood up to three years of age. They explained how inappropriate dietary choices can have adverse effects on both mothers’ and infants’ health.…”