Exploring nutritional supplement use for countering respiratory tract infections through an X (formerly Twitter)-based survey

Singla, Rajeev K., Mondal, Himel, Singla, Shailja, De, Ronita, Behzad, Sahar, Găman, Mihnea Alexandru, Sai Chandragiri, Siva, Cenanovic, Merisa, Patra, Jayanta Kumar, Depew, Jennifer R., Boyina, Hemanth Kumar, Maigoro, Abdulkadir Yusif, Lee, Soojin, Atrooz, Omar M., Das, Gitishree, Schultz, Fabien, Abdallah, Emad Mohamed, Chopra, Hitesh, Ahmad, Jamil, Gautam, Rupesh K., Patnaik, Sourav S., Goh, Bey Hing, Babiaka, Smith B., Vats, Sharad, Okoh, Michael P., Ahmed, Atallah F., Dubey, Ankit Kumar, Lordan, Ronan, Subramani, Parasuraman Aiya, Singh, Amit Kumar, Alvarez-Suarez, José M., Chellappan, Dinesh Kumar, Paswan, Shravan Kumar, Semwal, Prabhakar, Khan, Johra, Sheshe, Sadeeq, Sethiya, Neeraj Kumar, Karpiński, Tomasz M., Riaz, Muhammad, Emam-Djomeh, Zahra, Gupta, Girish Kumar, Madaan, Reecha, Kumar, Suresh, Choudhary, Neeraj, Parisi, Salvatore, Willschke, Harald, Pirgozliev, Vasil, Rayan, Rehab A., Ritschl, Valentin, Mondal, Shaikat, Zengin, Gokhan, Verma, Pritt, Kapoor, Bhupinder, Gulati, Monica, Balla, Gareeballah Osman Adam, Le, Dan Khoa, Pittalà, Valeria, El-Demerdash, Amr ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6459-2955, Khalid, Garba M., Simal-Gandara, Jesus, Alzahrani, Qushmua E., Russo, Gian Luigi, Kharat, Kiran R., Bishayee, Anupam, Wang, Dongdong, Orhan, Ilkay Erdogan, Ullah, Hammad, Heinrich, Michael, Baral, Bikash, Tzvetkov, Nikolay T., Yeung, Andy Wai Kan, Dias-Ferreira, João M.L., Olea, Scarlett Perez, Mohanta, Yugal Kishore, Kureshi, Azazahemad A., Supuran, Claudiu T., Rani, Neeraj, Gundamaraju, Rohit, Mulholland, Eoghan Joseph, Lonardo, Sara Di, Dinkova-Kostova, Albena T., González-Burgos, Elena, Hritcu, Lucian, Badhe, Pravin, Singh, Abhilasha, Al-Rimawi, Fuad, Sureda, Antoni, Abiri, Rambod, Braidy, Nady, Kapral, Lorenz, Abdullahi, A. N., Medina, Christhian Delfino Villanueva, Sheridan, Helen, Lucarini, Massimo, Durazzo, Alessandra, Giampieri, Francesca, Barreca, Davide, Maria, Witkowska Anna, Andrade, José Carlos, Fimognari, Carmela, Akram, Faizan, Tikhonov, Aleksei, Battino, Maurizio, Oladipupo, Akolade R., Emerald, Mila, Efferth, Thomas, Amrani, Said, Echeverría, Javier, Maria Louka, Anna, Tripathi, Surya Kant, Fiebich, Bernd L., Es-Safi, Nour Eddine, Khan, Shafaat Yar, Chavda, Vivek P., Zubair, Muhammad Asim Masoom, Hussain, Samrina, Rahman, Muhammad Fasih Ur, Odimegwu, Joy, Horbanczuk, Jaroslaw Olav, Devkota, Hari Prasad, Cifuentes, Alejandro, Sodhi, Rupinder, Santini, Antonello, Tantengco, Ourlad Alzeus G., Pai, Sandeep Ramchandra, Chettupalli, Ananda Kumar, Granica, Sebastian, Stojanović, Nikola M., Tewari, Devesh, Mittal, Vineet, Garg, Vandana, Rahman, Mohammad Akhlaquer, Logesh, Rajan, Berindan-Neagoe, Ioana, Sharma, Rohit, Jóźwik, Artur, Matin, Maima, Parvanov, Emil D., Strzałkowska, Nina, Matin, Farhan Bin, Litvinova, Olena, Stoyanov, Jivko, Michalczuk, Monika, Zima-Kulisiewicz, Bogumila, Eminaga, Okyaz, Mishra, Awanish, Jahan, Nishat, Bensz, Joanna, Joshi, Tanuj, Upaganlawar, Aman, Patni, Kiran, Zielińska, Aleksandra, Hrg, Dalibor, Stolarczyk, Artur, Adamska, Olga, Perry, George, Ławiński, Michał, Kamińska, Agnieszka, Štefanović, Mario, Siddiquea, Bodrun Naher, Frazzini, Sara, Rossi, Luciana, Wieczorek, Marek, Mickael, Michel Edwar, Garbe, Leif Alexander, Atanasov, Atanas G. and Shen, Bairong (2025) Exploring nutritional supplement use for countering respiratory tract infections through an X (formerly Twitter)-based survey. Current Research in Biotechnology, 9. ISSN 2590-2628

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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.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Data availability: Data will be made available on request.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	bacteria,covid-19,nutritional supplements,phytomedicine,respiratory tract infections,x (formerly twitter),biotechnology,sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1300/1305
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Chemistry, Pharmacy and Pharmacology
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Synthetic and Medicinal Chemistry
Related URLs:	https://www.scopus.com/pages/publication...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	14 Aug 2026 23:36
Last Modified:	14 Aug 2026 23:36
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/104161
DOI:	10.1016/j.crbiot.2025.100282

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