(Des)informação nutricional no instagram: análise das práticas infocomunicacionais dos profissionais e influenciadores da saúde

Abstract

This research analyzes the infocommunication practices of health and nutrition professionals and influencers on Instagram in combating nutritional misinformation, a relevant topic given the widespread dissemination of appealing content about food on this digital platform. The research aims to demonstrate the most prominent infocommunication practices in the content published on the profiles of health professionals and influencers on Instagram to combat nutritional misinformation. This is a qualitative study, with a netnography design, conducted with eight profiles of Brazilian health and nutrition professionals and influencers on Instagram. Data collection was carried out online, through systematic non-participatory observation, and considered the posts on the profiles' feeds throughout 2025 that had the highest engagement and/or referred to the most relevant topics of nutritional misinformation. Posts via stories were also included. The analysis followed the inductive netnographic analysis technique. The results indicate that the nutritional misinformation combated predominantly involves nutritional terrorism/food fads/miracle diets, followed by pseudoscience/fake science content. Regarding content formats, the study found a clear preference for Reels. A mixed approach (didactic and engaging) was also observed in the profiles, seeking to facilitate the appropriation of information. It is concluded that the application of infocommunication practices combined with the use of scientific content is a promising path for collaborative learning in nutrition in the digital environment. The study contributes by promoting information education as an alternative to be used in combating misinformation in health and nutrition on Instagram, given the relevance of this research front in fostering critical behavior among users.