Previous research has explored young adults' engagement with online nutrition information, including how they evaluate credibility and their preferences for nutrition content (1-3). However, less is known about how young adults themselves construct what makes nutrition communication believable and meaningful when engaging with social media content. Understanding these perceptions may inform evidence-based nutrition communication that better competes with misinformation. Using object-elicited methods, semi-structured online interviews were conducted between April and July 2026 with ten Australian young adults aged 18 to 25 years who regularly viewed nutrition-related content on social media and had no previous diagnosis of an eating disorder. Participants were recruited using convenience and snowball sampling. Interviews explored how participants searched for, interpreted and evaluated nutrition information on social media, their responses to participant-selected and researcher-selected social media artefacts, and the characteristics they perceived as making nutrition communication believable and meaningful. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis (4). Ethical approval was granted by the RMIT Human Research Ethics Committee (29474). Analysis developed a theme describing how young adults constructed nutrition communication as believable and meaningful, encompassing several interrelated subthemes. Participants (eight female, two male) valued nutrition information they perceived as factual, but what felt believable was also shaped by personal relevance and heuristic credibility cues embedded within social media. Specifically, self-reported creator credentials, confident delivery, authenticity and appearance influenced whether information was believed. Participants rarely described independently verifying scientific evidence. As one participant explained: “I’m a nutritionist. Again, have I seen her degree? No. That’s good enough for me in this online world.” Information that aligned with existing beliefs, values and lived experiences could therefore feel credible even without independent verification. Content became meaningful when it was also relevant and applicable to participants’ everyday lives, making it feel worth acting upon and, for some, fostering a sense of competence or empowerment. Participants valued practical explanations, demonstrations, actionable advice and realistic recipes or lifestyle tips. They emphasised that nutrition information should be easy to consume and apply, using concise messaging, clear visuals and practical guidance without exaggerated or judgemental claims. Attention-grabbing hooks and emotional engagement helped capture and sustain interest. Young adults valued evidence-based nutrition information, yet what they perceived as believable was shaped by personal relevance and heuristic credibility cues rather than independent verification of scientific evidence. Existing beliefs, values and lived experiences shaped both whether nutrition information felt credible and whether it felt meaningful and applicable to everyday life. Effective nutrition communication may require not only scientific accuracy, but also an understanding of what makes information believable, personally meaningful and practical to apply.