Social and Digital Environments and Dietary Behavior among Adults with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Narrative Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36568/jone.v4i4.808Keywords:
Diabetes Mellitus, Dietary behaviour, Social support, Social media, Digital healthAbstract
This narrative review synthesizes evidence on the relationships between social and digital environments and dietary behavior among adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Fifteen publications identified through a reported search of ScienceDirect and SpringerLink were mapped, comprising 11 reviews and four primary studies. Evidence directly addressing dietary outcomes in adults with established T2DM was distinguished from contextual evidence involving diabetes prevention, mixed diabetes populations, and general adult populations. A review of 10 social-network interventions among adults with T2DM found that five reported improvements in dietary adherence. A mixed-methods study involving 42 adults found no significant correlation between nutrition knowledge and diet quality but identified social support as a facilitator of dietary behavior. Nutrition-related topics appeared in 107 of 300 diabetes-related Facebook posts, reflecting online discussions rather than demonstrated dietary behavior change. Similarly, six of 10 studies included in a mobile-health review reported improvements in diet quality, although most involved populations without T2DM. Across the reviewed publications, online communities primarily provided information and peer support, while structured digital interventions incorporated self-monitoring, goal setting, and feedback. Overall, social support may facilitate dietary adherence, but the available evidence does not establish a consistent causal effect of unstructured social media exposure on dietary behavior among adults with T2DM. These findings suggest that nutrition care should consider interpersonal and digital contexts while accounting for information quality and individual patient circumstances. However, interpretations remain limited by heterogeneous outcomes, potential overlap across reviews, searches restricted to two platforms, exclusion of inaccessible full texts, and the absence of formal quality appraisal.
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