Could Facebook be used as a weapon against childhood obesity?

A new American Heart Association scientific statement suggests that Facebook and other social media platforms could help fight childhood obesity. Organizations have routinely used social media to promote healthy eating initiatives and this statement may be the confirmation that these organizations need to continue launching internet-based campaigns, especially those aimed at combating childhood obesity.

ABC’s Liz Neporent wrote in 2011 about how social media can help motivate you to exercise. She discussed how becoming mayor of a location on Foursquare motivated her to exercise. Foursquare, for those unfamiliar with the social media app, allows one to share his or her location with friends.

“To the uninitiated, being the Foursquare mayor of a living room gym sounds like a silly waste of time,” she admitted. “Perhaps it is. But for someone as compulsive as I am, it has actually become part of what motivates me to lace up my sneakers every morning.”

Internet-based health interventions based around the idea of achieving a goal or competing with friends may be another avenue for researchers to explore. Researcher shows that people tend to work a lot harder when they are motivated by someone or something.

“Online communication and social media are an increasing part of our lives and our overall social network of family, friends and peers,” said Dr. Jennifer S. Li, chair of the writing group and division chief of pediatric cardiology at Duke University Medical Center, in a statement. “Healthcare providers should embrace its potential as a tool for promoting healthy behavioral change.”

Dr. Li’s writing group looked at research on Internet-based interventions to lose weight, increasing physical activity and advance eating habits among children.

Researchers found that several variables determined whether the interventions were successful, including whether the rest of the family was involved in the intervention, the level of back-and-forth communication and feedback with a counselor or support group and the frequency with which kids logged on and took part in the programs.

Research shows that obese people usually share a living space or spend their recreational time with others who are overweight.

“Athletes tend to hang out with athletes, and overweight kids hang out together so they reinforce each other’s eating habits or preferences for recreational activities,” Dr. Li said.

More than 90 percent of 12- to 17-year-old kids have Internet access at home or in school so social network health interventions should be examined as an effective way to fight childhood obesity, researchers contend.

“Some research shows that even in virtual social networks, people tend to associate with others like themselves,” Dr. Li added. “So if you develop a network of kids who are overweight, you can have an impact on all of them — in the real world and online — because if one starts making healthy changes, the others will be influenced to do so as well.”

Unfortunately, there are several negatives to using social media for health interventions, including the danger of cyber bullying, privacy issues and sexting. Internet addiction can also lead to sleep deprivation.

“Doctors need to understand digital technology better so that they can offer guidance to patients and their families on avoiding such issues, and will be aware of any such problems that occur,” Dr. Li said.

The writing group suggests that policy makers, doctors and researchers oversee outcomes and design health interventions that provide privacy protection and create behavioral changes such as self-monitoring, goal-setting and problem-solving.

Additional research is necessary to obtain data on overweight and obese adolescents and to examine whether variations in gender, ethnicity, geographic location and socioeconomic status impact the success and level of engagement with social media and technologically-based weight management interventions.

“Teenagers are texting and using Facebook and other social media as their primary communication with their peers, and we need to find out what factors can be incorporated into social media that will increase the effectiveness of these interventions to initiate and maintain weight loss in kids and adolescents,” Dr. Li said.

Facebook, with one billion users as of October, certainly has the reach to help fight childhood obesity. CNN Money notes that reaching the one billion users mark means that Facebook impacts one out of every seven people on the planet.