Only 2% of health and nutrition advice posted on TikTok is accurate, according to a new study.
Fitness app MyFitnessPal partnered with Dublin City University to conduct research on TikTok, using artificial intelligence to analyze over 67,000 health and nutrition videos posted on the app. Preliminary findings show that only 2.1% of what was analyzed was accurate based on public health and nutrition guidelines.
Katie Keil, chief marketing officer at MyFitnessPal, said: “The findings show that people can better understand what’s in the food they’re eating and dig deeper into the science behind social trends. “It highlights the fact that we need to find reliable sources of information to guide us.” “There are a lot of great registered dietitians out there who are sharing evidence-based content on social media alongside medical professionals and trusted brands. I encourage you to find the source and follow it.”
“People rely on certain social media signals, such as number of followers or virality of a video, to guide their food choices. However, these may not be good indicators of high-quality nutritional health content. “There is,” she added.
The study also surveyed Millennials and Gen Z’s attitudes toward TikTok, surveying more than 2,000 people in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. As a result, 87% of Millennial and Gen Z TikTok users have used the app for nutrition and health advice, and an additional 57% are influenced by health and nutrition trends shown on the platform. Those who answered that they either do so or frequently do so.
Most of these trends revolved around detox, fat burning, and liquid cleansing. Of those surveyed, 31% reported experiencing negative health effects from these trends.
Dr Theo Lin, Professor of Digital Business at Dublin City University Business School, said: “As more and more people turn to social media for health and wellness advice, it’s important that we increase our digital health literacy as a community.” . “This includes recognizing the experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness of sources. These viral TikTok trends challenge the rigor of controlled experiments and evidence-based scientific consensus. It is important to understand that it is often lacking and therefore should not be relied upon as a reliable source of information.”
However, the study was not without its critics.talk to health lineMaddie Pasquariello, RDN, MSc, questions how reliable the use of AI is when analyzing such a large amount of video.
“Currently, there is not enough evidence to suggest whether, and to what extent, AI can independently determine whether a video or content complies with public health and nutrition guidelines. It’s important to recognize that,” she said.
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Pasqualiello also questioned MyFitnessPal’s motives for potentially bringing competitors to TikTok.
“If you tell people not to rely on TikTok, they might turn to MyFitnessPal instead, and as they suggest, use the ‘tools’ on their website to attract more people to their We can infer that it might direct them to the platform,” she said. “They are as interested in getting their website noticed and clicked on as they are on TikTok.”
