Your Social Feed Is Buzzing With Health Advice. But Read This First.

"A new survey by the Pew Research Center finds that about 4 in 10 U.S. adults - and around half of those under 50 - get health information from social media or podcasts. Researchers also looked at the social media profiles of 6,828 health and wellness influencers with at least 100,000 followers. Only about 4 in 10 list a background as a health professional."

"About one-third called themselves coaches, about 3 in 10 described themselves as entrepreneurs and about 1 in 10 cited their own life experience, like being a parent. Despite the wide range of expertise, about half of people who get health and wellness information from influencers said the influencers help them better understand their own health, while about one-third said it hasn't made much difference. About 1 in 10 said it made them more confused."

"Experts said the biggest green flag is when an influencer's credentials are easy to find on their profile. Beware the fill-in-the-blank "coach" who can't prove their training. Courtney Babilya, a certified medical exercise specialist and personal trainer who has more than 430,000 followers on Instagram, has seen this with maternity content: "Someone has a baby and suddenly they're a pregnancy coach.""

""We have to be careful with people who have an experience in one thing and suddenly become a 'coach' on that," she said. Coach is a business model, not a sign of training. Babilya shares her own experience dealing with chronic illness online, but keeps it separate from her professional advice. "You do have an obligation to make sure that you are not givin"

About 4 in 10 U.S. adults get health information from social media or podcasts, and about half of those under 50 do so. Researchers surveyed 6,828 health and wellness influencers with at least 100,000 followers and found only about 4 in 10 list a background as a health professional. About one-third call themselves coaches, about 3 in 10 describe themselves as entrepreneurs, and about 1 in 10 cite personal life experience such as being a parent. Among people who use influencers for health information, about half say it helps them understand their health, about one-third say it makes little difference, and about 1 in 10 say it makes them more confused. Experts recommend skepticism and checking credentials that are easy to verify on profiles.

Read at ScienceAlert