What is a toxin? Is your gut actually “unhealthy”? What are the functions of the hormones you’re “balancing”? Are your cortisol levels really dangerously high? Do you have a deficiency in any of the 92 “essential” minerals found in sea moss? How do you know what your body even needs anymore?
If wellness influencers on TikTok and in the media are to be believed, all of us are practically on the brink of a health collapse. From “lowering cortisol” to “balancing hormones” and “releasing toxins” (most of which your body does by itself automatically), to being told we’re deficient in everything from magnesium and calcium to protein and iron, we’re being bombarded with viral terms and supplements can leave you both confused and convinced.
“Many of my patients come in worried about their overall health because they’re constantly exposed to alarming information online,” Melanie Crum, RD, nutritional lead at POP Recovery Systems tells Dazed. “[They] come in believing they have hormonal imbalances or gut dysfunction simply because they saw a TikTok about symptoms that seem vaguely familiar. There’s certainly emerging research on these topics, but companies capitalise on the fear that people are unhealthy or missing out on something vital.”
This comes through in the marketing where words like “essential” make taking a supplement like sea moss, a red seaweed being promoted for its “92 essential minerals”, seem vital for full body regeneration. In reality, however, there are actually only 13 consumable minerals necessary for human functions, not 92. If you don’t know at least some of the minerals you’re taking, what they do, or if you’re even deficient in any of them, is gagging down a spoonful before breakfast every morning really the epitome of health? And worse, does not taking it make you think you’re less healthy than you are?
“I often see patients who have started multiple supplements based on influencer recommendations but have no idea if they need them,” Crum says. “This leads to a culture of self-diagnosis, where people assume they need probiotics, hormone-balancing herbs, or detoxes without fully understanding their own health needs.” An example of this is the recent demonisation of cortisol by TikTok, despite the hormone having many important functions in regulating our bodies. “Cortisol is essential to our existence,” says Sam Ritter, medical director at Elysium Health and emergency medicine physician. “It is dangerously simplistic to assume that ‘balancing hormones’ is a straightforward process.”
Despite homeostasis working to regulate our ordinary bodily functions, like hormones, nutrient levels, and pH balances, we’re constantly inundated with wellness language that convinces us we aren’t doing enough to cure inconveniences like aging, bloating and bad skin. And, with wellness routines claiming to only render visible results if you perform them regularly, sometimes multiple times a day, these cult regimens can easily disguise a more serious issue than just a bloated belly: an addiction to being healthy.
Orthorexia nervosa, a disorder defined by the NIH as an attempt to attain optimum health through attention to diet, was first coined in 1997 by Steven Bratman, MD, American physician and author. Over the last few years, eating-disorder treatment centers have been reporting a rise in cases, with studies finding that higher Instagram use was associated with a greater tendency towards orthorexia nervosa. It can be difficult to notice and easy to hide, especially since obsessively healthy eating is seen as a superior habit, hidden behind moralistic and virtuous adjectives related to “cleanliness”.
Maya Okada Erickson, a 33-year-old Michelin-star chef, has dealt with the harm of wellness terminology, which led her to develop orthorexic behaviors. “I think it absolutely manipulates the way we feel about our health, our wellness, and our general ‘purity’ or ‘goodness’,” she shares. “Being constantly bombarded with the messaging that what you’re currently doing just isn’t quite enough, that what you’re consuming is killing you with its toxicity, that you just need one more powder to finally feel comfortable in your own skin, or to simply feel clean and pure – it can all be quite overwhelming and even harmful. When you can ameliorate all that shame by just buying a new pill or powder, it’s an easy choice.”
But whether they’re making us healthier or not? “That depends on the metric,” Crum says. “Life expectancy is higher, and we have better medical care, but many chronic diseases have become more prevalent due to modern lifestyles. People are more aware of nutrition, but they’re also overwhelmed with conflicting advice, which can lead to extreme diet patterns or unnecessary restrictions.” According to the NIH, we’re increasingly living longer lives, but the gap between lifespan and healthy life expectancy is growing, which means Americans are living longer, but not necessarily healthier, lives.
Health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE) measures the average number of years a person can expect to live in good health. The US ranks progressively lower than other nations globally, including the UK, while women’s health in the US is falling behind other countries, faster than men’s. Meanwhile, diet-related diseases are a significant factor in preventable deaths. However, feeding into exploitative marketing to combat anxiety isn’t going to make you healthier. Ritter says you should be suspicious of any viral trend aimed at “curing” anything. “A cure cannot be delivered unless a diagnosis exists and a thoughtful diagnosis requires the ongoing involvement of a healthcare provider,” he says.
It’s understandable that people are susceptible to a social media wellness hack. Healthcare is becoming increasingly difficult to access in the US and the UK. Women’s health issues like period pain are also often dismissed or not prioritised by doctors, so turning to self-proclaimed experts on the internet may seem like a cheaper and convenient cure to normal health concerns. However, medical misinformation (perpetuated even by the government’s right-winged conspiracy theories) can be difficult to detect, where the risks of wellness practices aren’t thoroughly researched, benefits are over-promised, and the actual issue it’s supposed to fix doesn’t even exist.
The truth is, you’re probably not as unhealthy as social media makes you think. No, you don’t have to choke down a spoonful of sea moss to earn a healthier life, go on a meat-only diet to cure assumed deficiencies, or feed into a $700 handful of pre-breakfast supplements to “balance hormones”. “While it’s great that people are paying attention to their health, the wellness industry tends to exaggerate problems, making people feel like they’re more unwell than they are,” Crum says. “The fundamentals of good health –adequate protein, fibre, hydration, sleep, and stress management – are far more effective than any single supplement.”