From food fads to dangerous diets: the risks of social media trends

Banning oats and swearing by eating carrots daily – new miracle diets and superfoods pop up on social media on the regular, but these trends often spread half-truths or plain misinformation.

“I swear by carrot salad, I have this anytime I’m lutealing. It helps with my PMDD (Premenstrual dysphoric disorder) symptoms: acne, hormone imbalance, difficult periods,” a beauty blogger explains in a Youtube short.

On his podcast, host Joe Rogan praises the impact of his so-called carnivore diet, consisting of “mainly meat, and fruit and some vegetables.” Other followers of this diet strictly eat animal products like meat, fish, eggs and animal fat.

A year ago, the ‘oatzempic’ trend claimed that blitzing oats with water and lime and consuming a lot of it had the same effects as the weight loss drug Ozempic. A year before that, some social media influencers declared oatmeal an ‘anti-nutrient’ for containing phytic acid, discarding their many benefits.

Subjective opinions seen as truth

Though social media and the internet offer affordable advice, this can have an impact further down the line.

Extreme diets – like the keto-diet or the carnivore diet – are not new, but misinformation on social media can have far-reaching and long-lasting consequences on the health of those who adopt these trends.

“The issue with nutrition or dietetics is that we don’t always see the health effects on the short term. You can have medium-term or long-term effects like deficiencies or undernutrition,” dietician Myriam Rochdi told the Luxembourg Times in an interview.

“Most people have an opinion on food. Unfortunately, the subjective opinion people share can become a rule to some – especially on social media,” she continued, adding that “the problem with social media discourse is that we’re often presented with half-truths out of context.”

While eating more carrots can be healthy because they add more dietary fibre to a person’s diet, there is a limit to how many you can safely consume.

Juicing or fasting might also reduce inflammation, but “you can’t base a diet on vegetable juice, and you can’t live off one meal a day for the rest of your life,” Rochdi explained. “There’s work to be done to recontextualise, to deconstruct some of the information shared online.”

The science behind a healthy diet

The issue with viral social media diets is that they are promoted by people who do not always have professional training on the topic, or that they are not based on scientific research.

“In extreme diets, people remove food groups or do unsupervised fasting, for example. That can lead to consequences later, like metabolic disorders,” Rochdi explained.

Trends promote a reductionist conception of food, where the latter is not seen as a complex system of interdependent nutrients but as a source of a single compound, Rochdi added.

“If you cut out several food groups, you deprive yourself of a range of nutrients and micronutrients – and it’s only in the medium or long term that you’ll notice problems like demineralisation, increased risk of osteoporosis, anaemia or fat metabolism disorders. On a carnivore diet, for instance, it’s more difficult for the kidneys to get rid of the uric acid which is then deposited in the joints, causing painful, chronic inflammation (gout). This type of diet is likely to cause dyslipidaemia (imbalance in fat metabolism),” said the dietician, who is part of the Luxembourg dietician association.

Myriam Rochdi, dietician, says internet food advice can contain misinformation and half-truths © Photo credit: Myriam Rochdi

“If you cut out several food groups, you deprive yourself of a range of nutrients and micronutrients – and it’s only in the medium or long term that you’ll notice problems like demineralisation, increased risk of osteoporosis, anaemia or fat metabolism disorders. On a carnivore diet, for instance, it’s more difficult for the kidneys to get rid of the uric acid which is then deposited in the joints, causing painful, chronic inflammation (gout). This type of diet is likely to cause dyslipidaemia (imbalance in fat metabolism),” said the dietician, who is part of the Luxembourg dietician association.

While vegetarians and vegans cut out meat or animal products for ethical and environmental reasons, they have to compensate with other foods and supplements to remain healthy.

The profession of dietician and nutritionist are not the same either. While dieticians are recognised by Luxembourg’s medical board and health ministry – and require a postgraduate diploma – the profession of nutritionist is not regulated in most countries and therefore not held to the same strict standards.

“Official dietetics are based on studies, on evidence – a dietician doesn’t just hand out recommendations to apply to all. They study a person and help optimise their nutrition,” Rochdi explained.

“Our recommendations are based on studies aimed at optimising health. We’ve realised we need multiple food groups, and we can’t just skip them unless it’s a very specific reason. The idea is to find a balance between these food groups based on personal needs. It’s a very individual analysis.”

The evil carb myth

No food is perfect and, likewise, no food is inherently bad – unless the consumer has an allergy, the dietician explained.

Eggs, for instance, were long seen as a cholesterol-rich food source to be limited heavily – but “not everything will be absorbed by the body and not everyone needs to limit their cholesterol intake.”

Raw milk – which does not go through the pasteurisation process – has gained popularity on Instagram and Tiktok, but it has faced backlash for the potential harm it can cause, as disease-spreading germs have not been killed and it can cause foodborne illness.

“Raw milk, if stored correctly, can indeed bring useful microorganisms for gut health. But pasteurised milk maintains the micronutrients and proteins. Again, it’s a matter of balance: are you willing to take the hygiene risk or not?” Rochdi commented.

The updated food pyramid (called the ‘beheaded’ pyramid) puts hydration and fruit and vegetables as the basis of a healthy diet, followed by carbs and protein. The tip is slightly off-centre to show that the foods it features are not truly necessary.  © Photo credit: Food in action

The most important thing is “to vary nutrient sources”, or in other words, to avoid cutting out one food group entirely.

“I suspect that the oat-bashing trend, like the carnivore diet, rides on the prevailing idea that carbohydrates are bad in one way or another,” Rochdi said.

However, “carbs are our basic energy substrate. They make up about half of our calorie intake in a balanced diet, through starches, fruits and, to a lesser extent, vegetables and dairy products,” she continued. “If we suddenly cut our carb intake, our body has to switch to other metabolic pathways like ketosis – meaning it uses fat stores for energy.”

Though this may yield quick results, they are not sustainable, she warned: “Not only does this lead to deficiencies in essential micronutrients and fibre. But once carbohydrates are reintroduced into the diet, we might experience rapid weight rebound.”

Get professional help

People adopt extreme dieting trends to address a health issue or sense of discomfort, so “it’s important to question why you’re making a radical dietary change,” Rochdi said.

Those who struggle to see results from simply adopting a more balanced diet, should seek professional help. Sometimes, only small dietary adjustments are needed.

“You’d take your car to a mechanic if it wasn’t running properly, so why wouldn’t you see a dietician for the sake of your health?” Rochdi said.

To filter internet diet trends, Rochdi advised: “Anything radical likely isn’t backed by studies or evidence. And anything not backed by studies or evidence is subject to the bias of whoever’s promoting it.”