It is often said that social networks are a great ocean of misinformation. In them, it is not difficult to find false or poorly verified content, which despite its lack of veracity can get millions of views. Now, a study carried out by the University of Dublin and the health app MyFitnessPal for which 67,000 TikTok videos have been analyzed has concluded that only 2.1% of nutrition content published on the platform is based on evidence scientific. The remaining 97.9% of posts are inaccurate, partially accurate, or have been classified as uncertain.
The results are alarming, since no less than 87% of millennial or generation Z users registered on TikTok acknowledge that they have turned to the platform in search of advice on nutrition and health, according to a survey carried out in parallel by the MyFitnessPal app and in which 2,000 young people from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia have participated. Another fact that is extracted is that 57% of those surveyed claim to be influenced by the nutrition trends that run through this social network and, of this percentage, 67% report that they adopt them once a week.
On TikTok, one of the latest fashionable diets is the carnivore diet (there are thousands of posts with the hashtag
There are many potential risks associated with these types of miracle diets, such as malnutrition and loss of muscle mass. In addition, they can generate anxiety and frustration, nutritionists warn. But this does not prevent 30% of the young people who participated in the survey from having tried them. 31% of these users, add the promoters of the work, admit to having suffered adverse effects from doing so.
“The survey results highlight that people need to better understand what’s in the foods they eat, dig deeper into the science behind trends, and find trusted sources to guide them,” says Katie Keil, chief marketing officer at MyFitnessPal, who He adds that there are many professionals with the title of dietitian-nutritionist who share evidence-based content on the networks and who have more credibility.
Theo Lynn, Professor of Digital Business at the University of Dublin, said: “With more and more people turning to social media for advice on health and wellbeing, it is essential for us as a community to improve our digital health literacy. which implies being aware of the experience, knowledge, authority and reliability of the source.”
The authors of the survey and the study acknowledge that the findings are worrying, but they highlight a positive fact, which is that Generation Z trusts more in the content shared by licensed dietitians-nutritionists.
As a result of the results obtained, MyFitnessPal and the University of Dublin recommend verifying credentials, that is, confirming if we are consuming content produced by qualified dietitians-nutritionists; Do not trust a single expert and consult other sources, distrust those diets that, based on what they promise, seem too good to be true, or compare the information with other information published by prestigious institutions or renowned professionals.
As nutritionist Gabriela Uriarte explains in this report, we must also avoid those content creators who present a truth as undeniable and leave no room for discussion, or who completely demonize a food. Furthermore, it should draw our attention that the influencer in question publishes many images of his body, “because normally when you have training it is not necessary to teach palpable things, or give this type of evidence,” explained nutritionist Laura de Jorge in the same article. . Finally, having them sponsor products is another red flag.
