SINFLUENCER OR HONEST HELPER? ONLINE FADS TO IGNORE
Social media health gurus often feed fans a diet of misinformation. Here, experts debunk common food beliefs, writes
Danielle Wilkinson used to believe all sorts of nutrition myths. Like many women her age who grew up in the 1990s – when ultra-slim models adorned magazine covers – carbs were the enemy and fad diets a way of life.
Now, however, the fitness trainer is passionate about educating people on the fundamentals of nutrition, especially as the proliferation of misleading advice on TikTok and Instagram gets out of hand, she says.
“Many influencers are subject to the Dunning-Kruger effect, which is when you learn a small amount of information and then believe you understand the topic fully,” Wilkinson tells The National. “This leads influencers to passionately sell products or systems that ‘worked for them’.”
People also increasingly compare themselves with others as a result of social media, she says. “But a 23-year-old influencer doesn’t have the same demands, lifestyle and stressors as a 36-year-old mum of three who works two jobs,” she adds.
Influencers spouting fake and often dangerous advice about the already-confusing world of nutrition are on the up, and disordered eating habits are at an all-time high.
Last year, a survey by NHS England found 20.8 per cent of girls aged 17 to 19 in the UK have an eating disorder, in comparison with 1.6 per cent in 2017. Boys of the same age recorded a 5.1 per cent rise.
Orthorexia, an obsession with eating foods someone considers healthy, is increasingly a concern for many in the medical community.
These statistics are likely to only continue rising if social media influencers – who often have hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of followers – carry on spreading misinformation, experts fear.
As a result, there are a growing number of medical professionals with their own social media accounts who are countering this in their spare time.
British doctor Idrees Mughal, known as Dr
Idz, has 1.8 million TikTok followers. He joined the platform during the Covid-19 pandemic and was shocked by the amount of misinformation in the health space. He started sharing evidence-based advice and debunking posts (in which he notably declares “it’s time for school”). Within five months, he had half a million followers on the platform.
While Mughal has noticed some “scary trends” over the past couple of years, from people eating household cleaner borax to a mother advising others to use potato juice to cure strep throat, the most dangerous fads are much more understated, he says.
Carnivore diet: It’s subtle but deadly
The carnivore diet is the most worrying trend right now, he says. This only includes meat, fish and other animal foods, encouraging people to eat fewer plants and more saturated fats. It has some wellknown proponents, including British survivalist Bear Grylls and American podcaster Joe
Rogan, and some people report feeling better once they start, which experts say is a result of the lack of fibre, as the body can sometimes struggle to digest fibrous foods.
“The issue is we won’t see the damaging effects of that until years later,” says Mughal. “Too many people conflate how they feel with health outcomes, but you can’t feel atherosclerosis or plaque building up in your arteries.
“You can’t feel your colon replicating cancerous cells, right? That’s why the carnivore diet is dangerous, but it’s a subtle danger because people won’t realise until it’s too late.”
Dr Adrian Chavez, who has a doctorate in nutrition and more than 70,000 followers on Instagram, agrees this trend is concerning. He has shared numerous posts debunking the diet. “There’s never been a study that showed eating more meat led to better rates of heart disease or cancer, or a longer life,” he says.
“Every single study that has looked at eating more plant foods shows lower rates of heart disease, lower rates of cancer and longer lifespan.”
Chavez has spent thousands of hours working with clients trying to undo the damage unreliable influencers have done by getting them to believe the myths.
Clean eating: A dirty business
The clean eating trend is another concern. Influencers take advantage of people’s fears by demonising ingredients. Chavez says: “People are reading every single ingredient and spending two and a half hours in the grocery store because they want to make sure they don’t get any red 40 [food dye and E number].”
Mughal agrees, saying: “Clean eating is a complete garbage claim. Organic is not better, it’s just more expensive and it has a pretty label – that’s just food marketing 101 – nor is non-GMO [genetically modified]. Everything is GMO.”
The term “ultra-processed” is also a misnomer, he says. In one well-liked video, he shares the ingredients of a blueberry, which is full of chemicals. Apples contain cyanide and arsenic can be found in rice.
“The ingredient list tells you nothing about the health properties of that food, because if they looked into the ingredients of every single food, people would be shocked and terrified by the names,” he says. “If you put that ingredient list on the back of a bar of chocolate, the next day you will find 100 creators going, ‘Look at this toxin, look at this poison,’ but it’s literally the ingredients of a fruit.”
Aspartame, for example, is an artificial sweetener the World Health Organisation lists as a possible carcinogen. But for it to be harmful, people would have to consume 40 milligrams for every kilogram of body weight. For a 60kg person, that equals 12 Diet Cokes a day, every day. “The
In the clean eating trend, influencers take advantage of people’s fears by demonising ingredients
argument that just because something is ultra-processed is harmful is a lazy one,” says Mughal.
While consuming these ingredients is safe, says Chavez, it’s about balance. They’re energy-dense so it’s easy to overeat, meaning they crowd out more nutritious options. But nutrition is only one factor in health, he adds, alongside others such as exercise, sleep, medical history and genetics.
Calories vs quality: Moderation is key
Mainstream diets including keto or intermittent fasting can have utility, Mughal adds, but none are inherently superior. They’re mostly useful if someone looking to lose weight or improve their health finds one easier to stick to.
For weight loss, however, the key is simply calories in versus calories out. “I can’t emphasise this enough: you don’t need to be scared of any single food,” says Mughal. “All you need to be mindful of is the frequency of consumption.”
By this, he means a high intake of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and fatty fish, with low consumption of saturated fats, sugary drinks, pastries, cakes and sweets. “But no one should ever say that you can’t eat any of it,” he adds. “That’s where you’ve crossed the line into disordered eating habits.”
What’s also important is that people educate themselves by following reliable accounts and health advocates, says Wilkinson, who advises avoiding people who demonise foods or offer statements without qualification.
“Also, what kind of products are they selling? Is it supplements and detoxes? Or is it a course to coach people into making better choices that work for them?” she asks.
“To me, good coaches and experts explain the principles so you can become more informed and make more informed choices that suit you personally, but also that you understand the reasons why you do them.”