New data: Young Aussies warned to avoid social media for health, diet advice
Top medical professionals are warning young Aussies to stop following advice posted on social media platforms. SEE THE LIST
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Top medical professionals – including GPs, psychologists and nutritionists – are warning young Aussies to stop following advice posted on social media platforms, saying they are putting their health at risk.
Shocking new data has revealed eight out of 10 young Australians are turning to TikTok for medical advice, and alarmingly just 2.1 per cent of the nutrition content studied as part of the research was accurate.
Experts say social media platforms are more dangerous than “Dr Google”, where people try to self-diagnose by googling their symptoms because the platforms prey on people’s anxieties.
They say platforms including TikTok and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram need to be regulated to stop the saturation of unqualified content creators dishing out harmful health advice.
AMA Queensland president Dr Maria Boulton said that while social media could be entertaining, it should not be used to receive health advice.
“We understand access to primary care is challenging at the moment with the cost of living and abysmal Medicare rebates, but the solution is not to outsource health advice to social media,” Dr Boulton said.
“The ease of access can make online health advice extremely appealing, but at best, this advice is a temporary solution, and at worst, it can be harmful to people’s health.”
The study, conducted by MyFitnessPal, also revealed:
47PER CENT of millennials and 44 per cent of gen Z trust the health advice they see of TikTok
51PER CENT of young Aussies say they have tried a fad diet, food, or health trend on TikTok. Of those who’ve tried a fad diet, 35 per cent say they have experienced an adverse effect from a nutrition/health trend on TikTok
32 PER CENT have also admitted to being inclined to try popular health trends regardless of the potential health risk that it might entail
Clinical nutritionist Sally O’Neil said the rise of unqualified content creators on TikTok was putting the public at risk.
She said fad diets trending on TikTok such as the raw carrot diet and baby food diet, where people are encouraged to replace all their food with baby food to lose weight, were particularly harmful.
“There is such a huge trend now of people following unqualified professionals, no qualified professional would be giving advice over social media because it should be personalised,” Ms O’Neil said.
“We are getting children as young as 12 right up to 30 years old who are just going to people based on their aesthetics, following someone and saying ‘well I just want to look like her so I will eat what she eats’ and we know that it just does not work like that.
“Most of the time these people aren’t eating what we as qualified professionals would refer to as a balanced diet, and that’s where they are falling short for the general population.
“The findings show millennials and gen-Zs are experimenting with diet fads.
“This is extremely concerning as they often aren’t dependably backed by science and could have potential health risks associated with them.’’
The research found that Australia topped the list of countries who most trusted health advice on TikTok with two in five Aussies (42 per cent) seen trusting the social media platform for nutrition and wellness advice, outperforming the UK (39 per cent), US (35 per cent), and Canada (25 per cent).
The University of Melbourne’s Professor Scott Griffiths said that unlike a “Dr Google” search, which is initiated by the user, the TikTok algorithm delivers content it knows is more likely to keep you engaged.
“We are all guilty of Googling symptoms and then low and behold we find it that we have cancer, but with TikTok you don't have to search, the app instead will give you content about medical advice and rely on you staying engaged by you not scrolling away,” Mr Griffiths said.
“The algorithm will actually pick up on your anxiety and make you stay longer based on your engagement.”
Mr Griffiths said that more needs to be done to regulate social media companies.
“For companies providing information and news there are regulations, for social media to get better there needs to be more insight and oversight into how it is delivered,” he said.
A spokesperson from the Royal College of General Practioners said seeking health advice on social media could “do more harm than good”.
“My advice for anyone getting their health advice from social media platforms is tread with caution,” they said.
“There are some health experts providing great advice on platforms such as TikTok; however, there are also plenty of people speaking to things they know very little about or spreading harmful misinformation.’’
University of Queensland’s Professor Stan Karanasios, who specialises in information dissemination, said more needed to be done to improve digital literacy among the general population in order to avoid direct health complications among young people.
“As individuals, social media algorithms learn what information you like to receive and then tailor it to that,’’ Professor Karanasios said.
“If you want to know how to lose weight fast then your feed will give you that, regardless of whether it is healthy or not.
“More needs to be done in both education and government spaces to improve digitals literacy so people can filter through what’s right and what is not.”
BEWARE THESE FOOD FADS
Raw carrot salad
Viral salad consisting of raw carrots, olive oil, salt and lemon juice to regulate hormones. No scientific benefit for hormone levels
Internal shower
Consists of drinking a water, chia seed and lemon juice drink as fast as possible to facilitate bowel movements. Can lead to severe bloating and diarrhoea
Baby Food Diet
Replacing your meals with baby food to lose weight. After three days can lead to significant nutritional imbalance, lean tissue loss and a slower metabolism
Dog food
Eating dog food instead if meals as it contains large amounts of protein. No weight loss benefit and can cause severe constipation
Liquid cleanse
Drinking juice for THREE days or even a full week. Elicits fatigue, headaches, cravings and dizziness. Long term, it might lead to muscle and bone loss
Cabbage Soup Diet
Diet consisting of cabbage soup for an entire week, aimed at achieving quick weight loss. Can lead to gas, bloating and abdominal pain
Healthy coke
A trend of making a “healthy coke drink” from mixing water and balsamic vinegar, it claims to be a healthier alternative to popular soft drink Coca-Cola. Affects teeth and gums due to high levels of acid in the vinegar
Lettuce water
A new trend on TikTok that claims drinking a cup of lettuce water before bed can help you get to sleep faster. No evidence to support this as a cure for insomnia
Girl dinner
A simple meal consisting of small snacks and not a regular dinner meal. Doesn’t lead to a balanced diet
Dry scooping
Taking pre-workout powders without water, which contain a large amount of caffeine. No proven benefits
75 Hard
A restrictive diet plan with zero alcohol as well as two 45-minute workouts every day, one of which must be outside. Can lead to nutrition deficiencies and muscle loss
Carnivore diet
Also known as the lion diet. Meat-only diet with no carbs. High intake of red meat can lead to increased risk of colorectal cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer and heart disease
Chlorophyll water
Numerous TikTok videos claim it can prevent cancer and stop body odour. No scientific evidence that it prevents cancer. Can cause nausea and stomach cramps
Oatzempic
Blended drink with a half-cup of rolled oats, one cup of water, a dash of cinnamon and a squeeze of lime juice. Used long term could lead to muscle loss and hormone disruption
‘Extremely fatigued, no energy’
Annabelle Johnson was restricting herself to just one meal a day after being influenced by a dangerous viral TikTok trend before taking her own action against the platform to stop its “negative” impact on her health.
Ms Johnson is one of many Australians who has suffered adverse mental and physical health outcomes after following advice posted to social media platforms such as TikTok, whose algorithms feed users with more of the disturbing content.
“I started following the ‘girl dinner’ trend, and it just made me feel really fatigued throughout the day; I would be really snap and be hot on people’s feet,” the 18-year-old said.
Ms Johnston said on the girl dinner diet, followers heavily restricted what they ate each day.
She said she would limit herself to one meal a day and just snack throughout the day.
“Instead of a full meal, just snacks, I’d eat things like a muffin from Aldi, lunch box snacks and fruit throughout the day,” she said.
Ms Johnston, a first-year university student, said she found herself “extremely fatigued” and had “no energy” throughout the day from the diet.
“It wasn’t playing well with my emotions and I felt like it took a really big toll on both my mental and physical health,” she said.
“I was finding it hard to sit through lectures – it was affecting my studies.”
Ms Johnston was urged to follow the trend after videos claimed it would leave dieters “feeling better about your body image”.
“Since I stopped following health trends, I also found that I stopped following a lot of other social media trends,” she said.
“I find (the trends) all a bit stupid a lot of the time they are just selling lies for followers.”
Ms Johnston was able to stop seeing health-related content by “selecting the not interested” option on posts, which eventually changed the algorithm.
“That changed the algorithm and pushed some of that health advice out of my feed,” she said.
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