A recent study has revealed that TikTok pushes people to have unrealistic weight loss expectations. The study further showed that this in turn, promotes a toxic diet culture.

TikTok Report

In a recent report released by PLOS One, the science journal revealed that TikTok has a dangerous pattern of promoting “toxic” diet practices, and also “glorifies” extreme weight loss. This report comes on the heels of other reports releasing statements saying that TikTok users had jumped on the rave to promote the injectable medication Ozempic, an FDA-approved medication used to reduce the impact of Type 2 diabetes.

Unchecked Weight Loss Advice

For the study, researchers studied 1,000 on the platform, and it reported that each video had been viewed over one billion times since the study began two years ago in 2020. While reviewing the videos, scientists reported that many TikTok weight loss enthusiasts were following weight loss trends without proper scientific backing, and users glorified weight loss, and the use of food as an object to achieve a thin figure.

 

Experts also found that TikTok users who were sharing weight loss advice on the platform did not necessarily have the experience to back it up, but rather, had the charisma and the good looks to convince fellow users.

They Are Influencers, Not Experts

In a conversation with the New York Post, Dr. Lizzy Pope, who led the study, said TikTok users were encouraging people to go on certain diets without any expert backing

“There are very few doctors or dietitians that were interacting in this content. So it was basically just all people that are taking their personal experience and sharing it with the world which can be valuable. But in nutrition, there’s so much bad information out there, that we have to be so careful,” said Pope.

 

According to the study, the spread of weight loss misinformation on TikTok can especially be misleading considering that majority of the users on TikTok are between the ages of 16 and 24.

“Nutrition-related content on TikTok is largely weight normative, and may contribute to disordered eating behaviors and body dissatisfaction in the young people that are TikTok’s predominant users,” the study noted.

 

Pope stated that although TikTok is beginning to redirect users to eating disorder resources on certain videos, it is important not to view influencers as experts.