Evaluating Food Messaging Campaigns for Young Adults

NCT07768488 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: 85231R01DK142823
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 750
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

This study aims to determine whether online social media campaigns improve diet quality among young adults. Young adults will be exposed to one of three social media campaigns.

Conditions

Social Media; Diet Quality; Diet Intervention; Communication; Young Adults; Nutrition

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Diet quality (Healthy Eating Index-2020 score)

  Overall diet quality calculated from up to two unannounced, nonconsecutive 24-hour dietary recalls (1 weekend day, 1 weekday) collected via NCI's Automated Self-Administered 24-Hour Dietary Assessment Tool (ASA24) at each time point. Healthy Eating Index-2020 scores reflect alignment with the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans; higher scores indicate healthier diet quality (i.e., greater intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy, protein, and unsaturated fats and lower intake of saturated fat, sodium, added sugars, and refined grains).

  At 0-months (baseline), 3-months (immediately post- intervention), and 9-months (6-months post-intervention)

Secondary Outcomes (7)

• Consumption of target food groups

  At 0-months (baseline), 3-months (immediately post-intervention), and 9-months (6-months post-intervention)

• Internalized weight stigma

  At 0-months (baseline), 3-months (immediately post-intervention), and 9-months (6-months post-intervention).

• Disordered eating attitudes and behaviors

  At 0-months (baseline), 3-months (immediately post-intervention), and 9-months (6-months post-intervention)

• Attitudes toward unhealthy food companies

  At 0-months (baseline), 3-months (immediately post-intervention), and 9-months (6-months post-intervention)

• Perceived alignment of healthy eating with values

  At 0-months (baseline), 3-months (immediately post-intervention), and 9-months (6-months post-intervention)

Study Arms (3)

Counter-marketing messages

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will view a 10-week Instagram-delivered counter-marketing campaign exposing deceptive and harmful marketing practices used by food companies to sell sugary drinks and processed snack foods. Messages are drawn from those identified as most promising in prior message-development research and are targeted to values important to young adults (e.g., autonomy, respect).

Behavioral: Counter-marketing

Health education messages

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will view a 10-week Instagram-delivered health education campaign about the health consequences of sugary drinks and processed snack foods. Messages are adapted from existing public health campaigns about these foods.

Behavioral: Health education

Control (neutral) messages

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants will view a 10-week Instagram-delivered campaign about fire and home safety, a topic unrelated to diet. Messages are adapted from existing public health campaigns about these issues.

Behavioral: Control (neutral) messages

Interventions

Counter-marketing BEHAVIORAL

Participants will receive messages focused on exposing and undermining deceptive, harmful, or misleading marketing practices used by food companies to sell unhealthy foods. Messages are delivered via Instagram posts.

Counter-marketing messages

Health education BEHAVIORAL

Participants will receive messages about the health consequences of sugary drinks and processed snack foods. Messages are delivered via Instagram posts.

Health education messages

Control (neutral) messages BEHAVIORAL

Participants will receive messages describing neutral topic unrelated to food (fire and home safety). Messages are delivered via Instagram posts.

Control (neutral) messages

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 29 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• years old
• Reside in the US
• Speak English
• Use Instagram 3-4 times per week or more
• Consume sugary drinks 5-6 times per week or more and consume sweet and salty snacks 5-6 times per week or more

You may not qualify if:

• Younger than 18 years or older than 29 years
• Do not reside in the US
• Do not speak English
• Use Instagram less than 3-4 times per week
• Consume sugary drinks less than 5-6 times per week or consume sweet and salty snacks less than 5-6 times per week

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK): collaborator
• Stanford University: lead

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Communication

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Study Officials

• Anna H. Grummon

  Stanford School of Medicine

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Amanda Food Policy Lab Study Team

CONTACT

408-598-2672; foodpolicylab@stanford.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: INVESTIGATOR
• Masking Details: The investigator and data analyst will not be aware of participants' assignments.
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 12, 2026
• First Posted: August 17, 2026
• Study Start (Estimated): September 1, 2027
• Primary Completion (Estimated): April 1, 2029
• Study Completion (Estimated): April 1, 2029
• Last Updated: August 17, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-08

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP, ANALYTIC CODE
• Time Frame: We will post study materials (including the Study Protocol, Statistical Analysis Plan, de-identified participant data, and Analytic Code) to a public repository (e.g., GitHub or similar) upon publication of study findings.
• Access Criteria: Anyone will be able to access materials via the public repository.