Abstract
We obtained data from Google Trends and Wikipedia in order to assess whether an analysis of Internet searches could provide information on the Internet users’ behaviour/interest in diets. Differences in seasonality, year and before/during COVID-19 pandemic were assessed. From Wikipedia, we extracted the number of times a page is viewed by users, aggregated on monthly and seasonal bases. We also used Google Trends to evaluate the frequency of the users’ web searches. The Mediterranean diet was the most frequently (33.9%), followed by the pescatarian diet (9.0%). Statistically, significant seasonal differences were found for the Mediterranean, vegetarian, Atkins, Scarsdale, and zone diets and pescetarianism. The most commonly searched diet and consequent diet-related queries on Google resulted to be: Dukan diet, Dukan and weight loss. Ketogenic, FODMAP and intermittent fasting diets were statistically more frequently searched during the pandemic compared with before. Our data show a different trend of searches based on the seasonality, year and the pandemic. These data could be useful for scientists, practitioners and policy makers because they can inform educational campaigns via the Internet, especially in periods when the population is more receptive.
Highlights
Nowadays, an increasing number of people pay attention to their health [1]
By analysing Wikitrends, can give more insights on Internet users’ search behaviours regarding diet over time, understanding which diets are more fashionable among the general population and whether there is a seasonality in the searching activities
Diet-related digital behaviour showed a seasonality throughout the study period with a peak during spring, considering the data obtained both from Wikitrends (Figure 2) and Google Trends (Supplementary Figure S1)
Summary
Thanks to the impressive spread of the Internet and its easy access to a large amount of information (not even correct), the web is becoming one of the most trusted sources of information, even about health [2]. This is true considering health aspects related to diet [3,4,5]. In the current digital era, an increasing number of original data sources and high amounts of data, called “Big Data”, are even more available for several uses, including health-research activities [6,7,8]. Two additional qualities have been ascribed to Big
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