Use of Instagram to convey nutrition information to collegiate athletes

Background: Nutrition professionals, who work with collegiate athletes, use Instagram to provide nutrition information. Although, limited focus is on the engagement of these athletes. The purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate collegiate athletes' engagement, as indicated by the total number of likes received on posts, based on the nutrition content posted on Instagram. Methods: Over a five-week period, 15 randomly selected accounts were examined daily for posts made within specific research-defined categories (n = 12). The number of posts and subsequent post likes were summed and tabulated per category. Results: The food feature post category received the highest number of likes (n = 1,130) and posts (n = 33), whereas the macronutrient post category received the fewest number of likes (n = 43) and posts (n = 2). A two-sample t-test assuming unequal variances was conducted to compare account engagement as defined by the mean number of post likes within the same conferences. Two conferences had differences in the number of posts (p < 0.05). Discussion: Posting on a weekly basis and within specific categories appeared to produce a higher degree of engagement on collegiate sports nutrition Instagram accounts. Future research is needed to determine the percentage of athletes following these Instagram accounts and the impact these nutrition posts influences dietary behaviors.