The fact that fad diets and nutrition advice is widely shared on social media platforms like TikTok is not new news.

However, a new survey conducted by MyFitnessPal and Dublin City University suggests the majority of diet and nutrition trends on TikTok are not aligned with public health and nutrition guidelines.

Even more concerning is that of the 2,000 Millennial and Gen-Z TikTok users surveyed, 57% of respondents said they had been influenced by or frequently tried nutrition trends they saw on the platform.

Yet, only 2.1% of nutrition content on the platform is accurate, according to an AI-based analysis of more than 67,000 videos conducted with Dublin City University that compared TikTok videos against regulated public health and nutrition guidelines.

“The latest research conducted by MyFitnessPal, which partnered with Dublin City University, uncovered that there is a tremendous amount of health and nutrition misinformation on TikTok,” says Dr. Joan Salge Blake, EdD, RDN, LDN, FAND, a nutrition professor at Boston University, author of Nutrition & You, and the host of the nutrition & health podcast, Spot On!, who was not involved in the study.

Story Date: April 29, 2024