Functional foods and cancer on Pinterest and PubMed: myths and science

What is it about?

The objective of this study was to identify the correlation between what Pinterest users share about food and cancer, and the scientific evidence on the relationship between cancer and consumption of specific foods. In order to do this, we used PubMed and studied 75 Pins published in Pinterest. We identified about 80,000 scientific articles in PubMed about cancer and those foods posted on Pinterest. We observed that the Pins published in Pinterest have some relation to scientific information despite it not being possible to establish if the correlation with the particular food and cancer involved prevention, cure or treatment.

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Why is it important?

1) Brazil is the country with the fourth highest number of people connected to the internet. 2) More than 120 million people in Brazil (50% of the population). 3) Brazilians spend more time on Facebook, Whatsapp, YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest than any other social media. 4) Pinterest arrived in Brazil only in 2012, and 4 years later the number of users doubled. 5) One of the top topics on Pinterest is food, and most of this is associated as ‘functional food’. 6) There is an interest growth in ‘functional foods’ and bioactive substances, mainly related to the role of food in preventing or treating chronic diseases as cancer. 7) Despite all Brazilian citizens’ interest on the internet, social media and cuisine, food and beverages are neglected in Brazilian studies on social media, especially on Pinterest. 8) There is an association between ‘functional foods’ published on Pinterest and the scientific literature. 9) We found that about 90% of the foods cited on Pinterest were also mentioned in publication indexed in PubMed. 10) New media opened the chance to people create and share content. They have the potential to increase the accessibility of content and the amount of content. The problem is lack of filter.

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