In the corners of social media dominated by wellness content, influencers recommend an assortment of treatments and products to support weight loss, fight exhaustion or promote other desired health outcomes.
Some of the endorsed approaches may be helpful. Many play into fads with scant evidence to back up enthusiasts’ claims, medical experts say.
Some influencers encourage their followers to avoid specific food items, such as seed oils, while others advocate going all in on certain foods, such as the meat-heavy carnivore diet. There are video pitches for berberine, a chemical compound that’s been touted online as “nature’s Ozempic,” and for non-medical IV vitamin therapy, which businesses popularly known as drip bars market as cures for hangovers or fatigue.
To be sure, alternative health practices and cures that lacked the medical establishment’s backing were a part of popular culture long before the internet age. But the plethora of advice shared online has both prompted calls for safeguards and found a measure of mainstream acceptance.
The new U.S. health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., had his Instagram account suspended in 2021 for posting misinformation about vaccine safety and COVID-19, but many of the ideas he champions have a widespread following. Critics of Dr. Mehmet Oz accused him of sometimes making misleading assertions on the talk show he used to host; Oz now is President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services.
A Netflix series released last month explored the story of Belle Gibson, a popular Australian wellness influencer who amassed a following talking about curing her terminal brain cancer with a healthy lifestyle and alternative medicine. In 2015, Gibson admitted to lying about having a cancer diagnosis. Australia’s federal court later fined her for failing to donate money she said would go to charity through sales of her cookbook and app.
With personal wellness remaining a hot topic, here are some tips health experts have for evaluating the material you see online:
Most influencers have or want business relationships with companies that allow them to earn income by promoting products. The arrangements don’t necessarily mean content creators don’t believe in what they’re marketing, but they do have a vested interest in publicizing products that may or may not work.
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