@article{Singla_R-2025_206644,
title = {Exploring nutritional supplement use for countering respiratory tract infections through an X (formerly Twitter)-based survey},
author = {Singla, R. and Mondal, H. and Singla, S. and De, R. and Behzad, S. and Găman, M. and Sai Chandragiri, S. and Cenanovic, M. and Patra, J. and Depew, J. and Boyina, H. and Maigoro, A. and Lee, S. and Atrooz, O. and Das, G. and Schultz, F. and Abdallah, E. and Chopra, H. and Ahmad, J. and Gautam, R. and Patnaik, S. and Goh, B. and Babiaka, S. and Vats, S. and Okoh, M. and Ahmed, A. and Dubey, A. and Lordan, R. and Subramani, P. and Singh, A. and Alvarez-Suarez, J. and Chellappan, D. and Paswan, S. and Semwal, P. and Khan, J. and Sheshe, S. and Sethiya, N. and Karpiński, T. and Riaz, M. and Emam-Djomeh, Z. and Gupta, G. and Madaan, R. and Kumar, S. and Choudhary, N. and Parisi, S. and Willschke, H. and Pirgozliev, V. and Rayan, R. and Ritschl, V. and Mondal, S. and Zengin, G. and Verma, P. and Kapoor, B. and Gulati, M. and Balla, G. and Le, D. and Pittalà, V. and El-Demerdash, A. and Khalid, G. and Simal-Gandara, J. and Alzahrani, Q. and Russo, G. and Kharat, K. and Bishayee, A. and Wang, D. and Orhan, I. and Ullah, H. and Heinrich, M. and Baral, B. and Tzvetkov, N. and Yeung, A. and Dias-Ferreira, J. and Olea, S. and Mohanta, Y. and Kureshi, A. and Supuran, C. and Rani, N. and Gundamaraju, R. and Mulholland, E. and Lonardo, S. and Dinkova-Kostova, A. and González-Burgos, E. and Hritcu, L. and Badhe, P. and Singh, A. and Al-Rimawi, F. and Sureda, A. and Abiri, R. and Braidy, N. and Kapral, L. and Medina, C. and Sheridan, H. and Lucarini, M. and Durazzo, A. and Giampieri, F. and Barreca, D. and Maria, W. and Andrade, J. and Fimognari, C. and Akram, F. and Tikhonov, A. and Battino, M. and Oladipupo, A. and Emerald, M. and Efferth, T. and Amrani, S. and Echeverría, J. and Maria Louka, A. and Tripathi, S. and Fiebich, B. and Es-Safi, N. and Khan, S. and Chavda, V. and Zubair, M. and Hussain, S. and Rahman, M. and Odimegwu, J. and Horbanczuk, J. and Devkota, H. and Cifuentes, A. and Sodhi, R. and Santini, A. and Tantengco, O. and Pai, S. and Chettupalli, A. and Granica, S. and Stojanović, N. and Tewari, D. and Mittal, V. and Garg, V. and Rahman, M. and Logesh, R. and Berindan-Neagoe, I. and Sharma, R. and Jóźwik, A. and Matin, M. and Parvanov, E. and Strzałkowska, N. and Matin, F. and Litvinova, O. and Stoyanov, J. and Michalczuk, M. and Zima-Kulisiewicz, B. and Eminaga, O. and Mishra, A. and Jahan, N. and Bensz, J. and Joshi, T. and Upaganlawar, A. and Patni, K. and Zielińska, A. and Hrg, D. and Stolarczyk, A. and Adamska, O. and Perry, G. and Ławiński, M. and Kamińska, A. and Štefanović, M. and Siddiquea, B. and Frazzini, S. and Rossi, L. and Wieczorek, M. and Mickael, M. and Garbe, L. and Atanasov, A. and Shen, B. and Abdullahi, A.},
month = {apr},
year = {2025},
abstract = {Background: Respiratory tract infections are a common health issue, driving interest in preventive strategies like nutritional supplements, while evidence on their usage and effectiveness remains limited. In this context, social media platforms, particularly X (formerly Twitter), provide a unique opportunity to gather large-scale public health-related data. Objectives: In this study, we aimed to survey participants’ uses and opinions on nutritional supplements in prevention or treatment of respiratory tract infections, by using X. Methods: A survey was conducted between 1st and 15th December 2022. A single open-ended question “Which are the best dietary supplements to counteract respiratory infections?“ was asked. One week after the start of the survey, a poll was posted to get more relevant information and boost the survey's reach. Total endorsements were calculated for each tweet posted as the total sum of replies, retweets, and likes. Results: The open-ended question received a total of 118 retweets, 39 quotes, and 371 likes, while the poll received 56 retweets, 13 quotes, and 67 likes. A total of 495 replies, 2,251 retweets, 5,118 likes, and 148 quotes were received for the question and its related tweets. Vitamin D (1,607 endorsements), zinc (1,347 endorsements), vitamin C (803 endorsements), magnesium (694 endorsements), and honey (661 endorsements) were the nutritional supplements that received most endorsements. Conclusion: Various foods, drinks, and natural ingredients have been suggested as potentially helpful for counteracting respiratory infections. Approximately half of respondents indicated using such supplements for themselves. The result of this study supports the idea that the X platform can be used as an effective survey tool to study global health-related behaviours and trends.},
volume = {9},
journal = {Current Research in Biotechnology},
publisher = {Elsevier},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crbiot.2025.100282},
}
