Everyone Online Is a Nutrition Expert Now. Who Should You Actually Trust?
Friday, October 02, 2026 | 8:00 AM
If you open TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube it won't take long scrolling before one of them tells you what you should and shouldn't be eating.
Have more of this, have more of that, too. Have more protein and avoid seed oils. Take this supplement, try intermittent fasting and fix your gut. Give the new gummies a go and try that as well; it can indeed be endless, particularly if the algorithm considers that to be all the content you like. A study carried out in 2025 and published in Nutrients looked at the nutrition-related content on the TikTok platform. The researchers discovered that 55% of the posts they examined did not contain evidence-based information, and 75% of them were devoid of balanced and accurate information. Just 36% of the posts were regarded as fully accurate. There was yet another point worth noting: the researchers discovered no significant link between the accuracy of a post and the amount of engagement it obtained.
Nutrition advice is now a regular feature of the daily social media experience. The Pew Research Center reports that 40% of American adults obtain health and wellness information from social media influencers or podcasts, and even more worrying is the fact that only 10% of them say they trust all or most of the information they get.
So, when you start scrolling on social media and someone starts giving nutritional advice, who do you trust?
Nutrition Needs People Who Understand the Science
The fact that so much nutritional information is available online also means that there is a need for people who are able to examine the evidence behind it. UTRGV's Master of Science in Health Sciences with a concentration in Nutrition gives students an opportunity to study nutrition at the graduate level while developing knowledge in areas such as nutrition, obesity prevention, health maintenance, nutrition-related diseases, healthcare policy, research, and the healthcare system.
The accelerated course is entirely online and may be finished in as little as ten months, which enables students to keep working while they carry out their degree. The program does not qualify graduates to sit for the Registered Dietitian exam, but it can help students expand their nutrition knowledge and prepare for opportunities where an understanding of nutrition and health sciences can support their careers.
Before You Take That Nutrition Advice, Ask These Questions
We should mention one thing: not all people who talk about nutrition on line are giving out false information. The older person might simply be passing on a remedy that they have known all their lifetime. However, registered dietitians, researchers, healthcare professionals, universities, and public health organizations also use social media to make nutrition information more accessible.
The problem is working out how to assess what you are seeing. Before you make any changes to your diet as a result of reading a post, you should consider who the source is. Does this person have any relevant education or qualifications in the field of nutrition? Do they back up their claim with research? Do they offer results that sound too straightforward? And are they promoting a supplement, a meal plan, or some other product linked to their advice?
And perhaps the most important question of all is whether they are treating one person's experience as if it will work for everybody?
Nutrition science involves more than identifying "good" and "bad" foods. Age, health, lifestyle, medical conditions, access to food, culture, and other factors can influence a person's nutritional needs. That's difficult to fit into a 30-second video.
There's a Career Behind the Science
If your interest in nutrition extends past your social media feed, here’s some news you can use. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that dietitians and nutritionists earned a median annual salary of $76,400 in May 2025. The highest 10% earned more than $103,720. Employment for dietitians and nutritionists is projected to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, compared with 3% for all occupations. BLS projects about 5,700 openings each year during that period. Specific occupations may require additional credentials, supervised training, or state licensure, so career requirements vary.
Source:
Pew Research Center, Trust in Health and Wellness Influencers
https://www.pewresearch.org/2026/05/07/trust-in-health-and-wellness-influencers/
Zeng, M., Grgurevic, J., Diyab, R., & Roy, R., #WhatIEatinaDay: The Quality, Accuracy, and Engagement of Nutrition Content on TikTok, Nutrients
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40077651/
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Dietitians and Nutritionists: Occupational Outlook Handbook
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/Healthcare/Dietitians-and-nutritionists.htm
UTRGV, Master of Science in Health Science with a Concentration in Nutrition Online
https://www.utrgv.edu/accelerated/programs/master-of-science-in-health-sciences-concentration-in-nutrition/index.htm
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