Facebook messages on meat’s health and climate impacts can change diets – study

Sending people direct messages on social media about the health and climate impacts of red meat can help change eating habits, a study suggests.

The research from Cardiff University showed that sending direct messages to people in the study twice a day through Facebook Messenger led to reductions in the amount of meat they ate over a 14-day period.

Experts warn that eating too much red and processed meat is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and certain forms of cancer.

Livestock farming accounts for around 15% of global greenhouse gas, prompting a growing consensus that reducing excess meat consumption is needed to meet climate targets and improve health, the researchers said.

In the UK, meat and dairy production has a much lower environmental footprint than the global average, but climate and health experts still say the amount Britons eat should be reduced.

People underestimate the extent to which livestock contributes to climate change, so there is a need to communicate the negative impacts of eating meat, the study said.

A total of 320 undergraduate and postgraduate students were divided into one of three groups and sent messages through Facebook Messenger twice a day for two weeks, while a control group received no messages.

Depending on which group they were in the messages focused on the health impacts of red and processed meat, its environmental impact or a mixture of the two.

So a person receiving environmental information would get messages such as: “If you eat only a small amount of red and processed meat, you will protect the environment by reducing the release of harmful greenhouse gases.”

Participants were asked to keep a food diary through the two-week period to track their diet and surveys were sent to them at the end of the fortnight and a month after the trial.

Those receiving the messages significantly reduced the amount of red and processed meat they ate, the study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology found.

On average they reported eating between seven and eight portions of red or processed meat during the week before the Facebook messages were sent.

This dropped to between four and five portions during the second week of the intervention and stayed at roughly the same level one month afterwards.

If participants received environmental messages, or combined health and environmental information, they also appeared willing to reduce the amount of other types of meat and dairy they would eat.

Emily Wolstenholme, who led the study, said: “With Christmas approaching, it is a good time to consider how much meat we consume on a day-to-day basis and the impacts that this can have on the environment as well as our health.

“Our study shows that making people aware of these climate impacts makes them think about their eating habits. It also shows that people are willing to make changes to help the climate.”

Professor Wouter Poortinga, co-author of the study from the Welsh School of Architecture, said: “The results of the research are really encouraging.

“It shows that we can make changes to our diet, and if we all do, it can make a big difference for climate change.”