Effect of information encounter on concerns over healthy eating– mediated through body comparison and moderated by body mass index or body satisfaction

BACKGROUND: Understanding factors that influence healthy or unhealthy eating can inform intervention strategies. This study ascertained whether and how unintentional exposure to food and nutrition information influenced healthy eating concerns. The study tested body comparison, body satisfaction, and body mass index as three mechanisms that potentially link food information encounter, commonly known as information scanning, to healthy eating concerns. METHODS: A sample of 440 online participants (mean age = 29.15 years) was used to investigate: (1) how unintentional exposure to food and nutrition information, i.e., information encounter (IE), affects healthy eating concerns (HEC); (2) how the effect of IE on HEC is mediated by body comparison (BC); (3) how the paths of the mediation model are moderated by body satisfaction (BS) or body mass index (BMI). RESULTS: = .32). CONCLUSIONS: Exposure, even if unintentional, to food and nutrition information is an important predictor of HEC. BC, BS, and BMI are important factors that help to explain the process through which information affects behaviors.