On Instagram and other social networks, neo-nutrition experts are flourishing daily, pushing a public, sometimes very young, to increase dietary restrictions. What are the dangers, how can you protect yourself from them? Advice from a nutritionist at franceinfo.
Self-proclaimed influencers who are experts in nutrition are multiplying on social networks, giving ever more advice to obtain a “dream silhouette”. Instagram has more than two million publications with the hashtag #diet, more than 111,000 publications with the hashtag #chrononutrition, more than 93,000 with the hashtag #intermittentyoung, 77,000 with the hashtag #intuitivenutrition.
Recommendations of all kinds promise Internet users who follow them to the letter to sometimes lose several dozen kilos. At the risk of causing eating disorders in some.
On the front page of her Instagram account, one of these influencers – almost two million subscribers – offers to become “the best version” of oneself, with its “sports and nutritional programs”. Packs sold on average at 60 euros, offering videos of sports sessions, slimming recipes and advice “so that the whole family shares the same meals.” Throughout his publications, impressive before/afters of Internet users who have lost six kilos, sometimes ten, in just six weeks.
The hook of sports practice
On her website, the young woman presents herself as a sports coach. “The catchphrase is often fitness girls or fitness boys,” confirms nutritionist and endocrinologist Dominique-Adèle Cassuto, author of the work Silhouette, my friend, my enemy. “It’s often rather fair game, doing sport is a good idea,” recognizes the professional. But the proposed content quickly drifts towards a weight loss objective. “Every day”the nutritionist ensures that she receives patients in her office who are losing their bearings after following diets on social networks.
Another content creator and her partner – 1.5 million subscribers between them – are increasing promotions for protein drinks and food supplements “whether you are sporty or not, whether you want to lose weight or gain it.” Yet another – 1.4 million subscribers – published a recipe book “ideal for weight loss and dietary rebalancing”indicates his Instagram account.
Between two self-promotions, these influencers and dozens of others encourage the consumption of slimming gummies, cookies, snacks or meals for weight loss “quick and delicious”. All while offering challenges within particularly short deadlines with excessive weight loss objectives. These influencers “have no experience in nutrition or diet”, worries Dominique-Adèle Cassuto.
What particularly alarms the nutritionist is the lack of regulation of influencers: “We nutritionists wouldn’t dare say things like that online because we have the regulation of our peers.” She also emphasizes that certain professional experts in the field, doctors, use social networks wisely to give general advice on nutrition.
Not all recommendations on social networks should be thrown away. But the constraint of a diet must be adapted and personalized to the patient. “Intermittent fasting? For someone who is never hungry in the morning, why not. Gluten-free diets? It depends. Sugar-free diets? It depends…“continues Dominique-Adèle Cassuto.
The mental health of young people in danger
The essential factor that influencers miss is the profile of their Internet users. "They don’t know who’s behind the screen," alert Dominique-Adèle Cassuto. 94% of 13/24 year olds are on Instagram : “Prescribing a diet to a teenager, for me, is professional misconductinsists the nutritionist. Going on a diet when you’re hungry, when you’re growing, when your body is changing, it’s very distressing.”
Among the “followers”, some are already particularly fragile. Dominique-Adèle Cassuto remembers a young anorexic patient who followed yoga workshops on social networks. “She said to me, ‘I got on a yoga thing and they told me I had to eat this or that.’ It’s not okay!” Nutritional advice, obviously, unsuitable for a young anorexic girl.
To motivate his “team” on social networks, an influencer ensures that “It’s all in the head, the body will follow.” A heresy for Dominique-Adèle Cassuto: “It’s very serious! It’s so false, it sends the message that it’s the head that decides. It’s quite the opposite, which I repeat every day to my patients.”
These extreme restrictions regularly lead to eating disorders, such as anorexia or bulimia: “It normalizes a diet that is not adapted to age, physical activity, gender…” Not to mention potential deficiencies: “Obviously if we don’t eat anything anymore… In addition there are these trends on Instagram to show menus that look very copious but in which there is nothing, salad, chia seeds and I do not know what.”
Nutrition, a “very profitable” subject
To explain these trends which are multiplying on the networks, the nutritionist evokes the universal nature of food as a primary need: “Everyone eats every day. It’s very profitable. It brings a lot of people in, a lot of people who are lost.”
“These are often people who are fragile, who are not doing well, and who see people who seem very happy” who fall into these mechanisms, continues Dominique-Adèle Cassuto. “This girl seems happy with her friends, life seems to be working out. Plus, she had a baby, she’s very thin, she earns money… ‘Maybe if I was thin like that, well I’ll get there like that.’ There is also this identification that sets in motion.”
Especially since the model advocated by these influencers is often the same: that of an extremely thin body, without imperfections. The nutritionist reminds that each diet or nutritional course must be monitored by a professional and must be adapted to the patient. To avoid the eternal dysmorphophobia that adolescents face, Dominique-Adèle Cassuto recalls that photos on social networks are often retouched.