Dieting trends are taking over TikTok, raising misinformation and mental health concerns

Between TikToks about skin care, Instagram Reels with easy weeknight meal options and posts about the best fitness routines, health advice on social media has become almost inescapable.

It is also not always accurate.

Health misinformation on social media was on the rise during the COVID-19 pandemic, though it has since expanded from discourse about vaccines to other areas of health care as well. According to a 2024 survey by health tracking app MyFitnessPal, 87% of Millenial and Gen Z TikTok users utilize the app for nutrition and health tips, and 57% are actually influenced by this advice. 

As social media grows into a hub for health-related information, students may not be fact-checking influencers or seeking professional guidance. Ultimately, this can harm their self image and what it means to be healthy.

What’s trending

A 2022 study looking at nutrition-related TikToks found that 44% of the analyzed posts were about diet culture and weight loss.

Karson Taylor, a freshman studying nursing, said she mostly sees social media promoting diets that require giving up certain foods, like carbs, in order to lose weight.

Other food trends circulating the internet include veganism and carnivore diets.

Taylor said parts of health, like exercising, “get so individualized, whereas people generalize food and diet more than it should be.”

Instead of focusing on an individual’s health, social media offers certain foods as a one-size-fits-all ticket to wellness.

Taylor said diet culture can emphasize “restriction and how that’s the best way to be healthy” and how “a smaller body automatically makes you healthy.”

Gabriella Zwall, a senior studying dietetics, also said this mainstream version of health is distorted.

“Everyone focuses on weight, but in my opinion, the thing that should be focused on is health,” she said.

Melinda Johnson, a registered dietician and professor at the College of Health Solutions, said following unfounded diet trends like these could hurt more than help.

“If we follow a diet that’s way too restrictive, it could lead to issues with nutrient deficiencies,” she said. “It could aggravate disordered eating that’s already there, so we could definitely do harm to ourselves by following misinformation.”

Why misinformation works

Johnson said health trends on social media could have some benefits, as they have allowed people to start productive conversations about their health experiences.

“People open up on social media about their struggles with eating and with dieting, or with mental health, or with any other health condition that we tended to not talk about before,” she said.

The problem, then, is when these conversations lead to false ideas about how to live a healthy lifestyle.

“(Misinformation has) always been an issue with social media because it’s a platform that anybody can join and start promoting content,” Johnson said.

She said many people may not do their own research to determine if what they are seeing online is accurate.

“With social media, we can view people that look healthy, and … we tend to think, ‘Well, they look healthy, so they must know what they’re talking about,'” Johnson said.

On the flip side, Johnson said media consumers could be at fault for the spread of misinformation, since they can curate their own social media pages and may not choose to look for credible sources.

Zwall pointed out that people do not have to have credentials in order to call themselves “nutritionists,” but they do need licenses to be called “dietitians.” This can lead to confusion about who is qualified to share advice about health.

“There are real professionals on the internet providing real, helpful information,” she said. “It’s clouded by all the people who aren’t professionals claiming to be professionals.”

Effects of misinformation

Perpetuating misinformation about food on social media can negatively influence both physical and mental health.

“When it comes to health and dieting, it definitely impacts how people view themselves, as well as how they view food,” Zwall said. 

She said sometimes social media is more concerned with getting views than actually posting helpful content. It may encourage people to change who they are to fit a certain ideal, which then affects their self-perception.

Taylor said this can often harm girls, who have been influenced to want to look a certain way.

“I’ve definitely fallen into pressures of social media, and I’ve struggled with disordered eating,” she said. “Even before I was in a nutrition class, I had already kind of had to learn that you can’t believe everything you hear on social media, and that size is not always a determinant of whether or not you’re healthy.”

Eventually, Taylor said she understood that dieting is not always the only way to a healthy lifestyle, and that there’s more to life than the things we eat or don’t eat. 

Healthy living at college

Zwall is the president of the Cultivate Downtown Gardening Club at ASU, which helps students better understand where their nutrition comes from. She said she values teaching others how to be mindful about food while also making it fun.

“We can help by being positive (about health) ourselves, making sure the information we’re consuming is accurate before we tell other people that information,” she said. 

Johnson said while no single person will be able to stop misinformation, students should learn how to recognize inaccurate facts and should follow health experts who can give real advice.

“If you’re intrigued by what they’re (people on social media are) saying – say they’re promoting a certain fitness routine – then you do what’s called horizontal checking,” Johnson said. “You go and you see what experts in the field are saying about this particular fitness routine.”

Johnson said the foods social media promotes — such as organic vegetables — are not always feasible options for college students, regardless of whether they’re scientifically healthy or not.

“If we become convinced that we have to buy a certain thing or eat a certain diet, it can actually be harmful to our pocketbook,” Johnson said.

Though college students may have busy schedules and limited resources, Taylor said they could still be healthy through doing their best with what they have.

For her, this might mean taking short walks, instead of going to the gym, or eating a more simple diet at her dorm’s dining hall.

“It’s all about figuring out what works for you and what you like doing, because if you like doing it, then you know you’re more likely to be consistent and achieve whatever results you’re trying to achieve,” Taylor said.

Zwall also said dining halls, while limited, usually offer healthy meal options. Instead of trying to change an entire lifestyle, she suggested students make small changes to their eating – like picking brown rice over white.

Johnson said students should focus on keeping their diets simple, making sure to eat regularly and with variety.

“Proper nutrition simply means that you’re giving your body enough calories and enough nutrients to do what it needs,” Johnson said. 

Editor’s note: The National Eating Disorders Association in the U.S. can be reached by phone at 1-800-931-2237 or online via chat.

Edited by George Headley, Sophia Braccio, Tiya Talwar, Alexis Heichman and Katrina Michalak. 

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