New health hacks appear on TikTok every other week, and more than half of the population seems to blindly trust the video platform for health information. A new study says 57% of people are incorporating nutrition trends from TikTok into their lives, but maybe they shouldn’t?
According to research conducted by MyFitnessPal in partnership with Dublin City University, only 2.1% of nutrition content on TikTok is accurate.
After researching more than 67,000 videos on social media platforms among 2,000 people, the technology company found that just over 2% of all nutritional information actually matched public health guidelines.
Why, exactly, is inaccurate nutritional information proliferating so quickly? After all, 87 percent of Millennial and Gen Z TikTok users trust the platform for health advice, and 67 Percent say they pick up at least one trend from an app several times a week. According to Katie Keil, chief marketing officer at MyFitnessPal, these trends spread quickly because of their “sensational hook.”
“The more abnormal it is, the more widespread it is,” she told Delish. “As consumers of social media, the best thing we can do is improve our digital health literacy, and that starts by following trusted experts and validating what we hear against science. ”
She warns against “anything that promises a quick ‘fix'” and says this could be one of the most dangerous mistakes on the internet.
“Anything that promises to ‘lose weight quickly’ or ‘lose belly fat quickly’ sets unrealistic expectations and makes people feel like they’ve failed when they weren’t able to achieve it in the first place. It feels like that,” Keel says.
“We’ve seen a lot of fad diets pop up recently, but some can cause gastrointestinal upset, such as when chia seeds are consumed in large amounts in the ‘internal shower’ trend. There are even fad diets that drastically limit nutrient intake by focusing on eating. “Eat only one type of food, such as the cabbage soup diet. Eating a balanced diet that includes a variety of whole foods is a better approach to maintaining overall health and well-being.”
According to Keil, the most important thing you can do as a consumer is pay attention to the content you’re watching. Be careful when claims are “overly simplistic or promote a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach,” she says, but also because a person has a large following or a past history. He points out that just because something has become a hot topic, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s not always reliable.
“Always cross-check and verify information, even if you have a qualification such as a registered dietitian or medical professional,” she added. “For consumers to scroll responsibly means getting a second opinion and making sure other health and nutrition experts have similar recommendations.”
