Health fads that your doctor has probably never mentioned
The internet metabolizes wellness trends the way it churns through celebrity divorces and song snippets on TikTok. Health hacks such as drinking olive oil and bone broth crop up, then fall into obscurity. All these fads make the concept of “wellness” squishy: Wait, we’re drinking lettuce water? When did everyone get so concerned about their cortisol?
“Anyone who has learned anything from a conversation with their own nutritionist or maybe with their mother or just their personal life journey” can share their findings and suddenly go viral, said Emily Moquin, a food and beverage analyst at the research firm Morning Consult.
Here’s a roundup of the health and wellness trends so far in
2023.
It’s the era of Ozempic:
“Ozempic” has become an umbrella term for a new class of medications that can induce weight loss, in part by quashing one’s appetite and slowing the emptying of the
stomach. There’s Ozempic itself, an injectable diabetes medication that has become increasingly popular as people use it as an off-label tool to lose weight. There’s also Wegovy, approved to treat obesity; Mounjaro, a similar diabetes drug; and others. Some consumers have tried to find unauthorized options, like supplements such as berberine.
Part of what’s so fascinating about drugs like Ozempic is how they affect the brain: Users have
described their “food noise” — the incessant, spiraling thoughts about eating — shutting off. Some are also navigating stark side effects: shrinking muscle mass, intense nausea, vomiting, constipation and even, in rare cases, malnutrition.
Saunas are filling up:
After a pandemic-induced chill, bathhouses are back, and more people are turning to them with the hopes of sweating out toxins or boosting their brain. Researchers say there isn’t clear evidence that saunas can do all that, but a trip to the steam room might offer some health benefits.
Supplements proliferate:
Can’t focus? Can’t sleep? Are you stressed about how stressed you are?
The multibillion-dollar supplement industry is eager to offer answers. One plant or another seems to go viral every few weeks (sea moss, anyone?). People have recently focused on supplements that soothe anxiety: Ashwagandha, a staple of Ayurvedic medicine, broke into the mainstream this year, and thousands of TikTok posts have touted untested herbal remedies to lower cortisol levels.
Therapy is an aphrodisia: Maybe your date keeps listing love languages, or your Hinge feed features people talking about their therapists. Psychological buzzwords have entered the world of dating, as people use and abuse the jargon. “Boundaries” abound; daters claim to form “trauma bonds” over espresso martinis; people complain about gaslighting and love bombing.
“Instead of being like, ‘I’m 5-11, and I can bench-press some large amount,’ it’s like, ‘I have grappled with the challenges of my childhood, and I’ve thought deeply about my issues,’ ” said Paul Eastwick, a psychology professor at the University of California, Davis.
We’re craving protein:
“We’ve just gone completely off the rails with protein in recent years,” Hannah Cutting-Jones, a food historian and the director of the food studies program at the University of Oregon, told The New York Times this past winter.
Take protein bars: Nutritionists say they are often little more than glorified candy. Or cottage cheese, which hit a 19-year high for Google searches in July. Protein is a key part of the appeal of cottage cheese; a half-cup packs roughly the same amount of protein as three eggs. Never mind that most Americans are meeting, and often exceeding, the recommended daily protein intake.