TikTok food trends are perpetuating a “toxic diet culture” among teens, researchers have warned.
According to a University of Vermont study, the most popular videos related to nutrition and weight often portray an “unrealistic and inaccurate image,” which could contribute to eating disorders and negative body image.
The findings, published in the journal PLOS One, are based on analysis of the top 100 videos from 10 nutrition, food and weight-related hashtags on TikTok, all of which had more than a billion views when the study began in 2020.
Since then, the hashtags have grown as the app’s user base has expanded.
Many of the popular videos glorify weight loss and position food as a way to get lean, the study says.
“Every day, millions of teens and young adults are fed content on TikTok that paints a highly unrealistic and inaccurate picture of food, nutrition, and health,” said lead researcher Lizzy Pope.
“Getting caught up in TikTok weight loss can be a really difficult environment, especially for the main users of the platform, which are young people.”
‘Surprising prevalence’ of weight-related videos
Professor Pope and co-author Marisa Minadeo are enthusiastic users of TikTok and sought to investigate how it was being used as a source of food and nutrition information.
Young people are increasingly turning to TikTok not only to get personalized videos, but also to search for specific terms that they may have traditionally used a search engine for.
Earlier this year, a senior vice president at Google noted that “almost 40%” of young people chose TikTok or Instagram to find a place to eat lunch.
TikTok’s algorithm will continue to serve up similar content that users have shown interest in, which the researchers say risks users becoming “stuck” on certain topics and trends.
“We were continually amazed at the prevalence of the topic of weight on TikTok,” said Ms. Minadeo.
“The fact that billions of people were viewing weight content on the internet speaks volumes about the role diet culture plays in our society.”
‘Young people should think about body image beyond social networks’
The Vermont investigation noted the absence of “considered expert voices” among those who create content about weight loss and nutrition on TikTok.
By that they mean doctors, dietitians, or certified trainers.
Most of the creators in the space were white women, teenagers and young adults.
“We need to help young people develop critical thinking skills and their own body image outside of social media,” Professor Pope said.
“But what we really need is a radical rethinking of how we relate to our bodies, to food and to health.
“This is really about changing the systems around us so that people can live productive, happy and healthy lives.”
