Social media has turned everyone into a wellness expert. A gym selfie becomes proof of
medical authority. A viral reel becomes "research." The problem isn't that people want to
share what worked for them. That's human. The problem is when personal experience gets
packaged as universal truth. One person's weight loss trick becomes another person's
nutritional disaster.

A big reason myths spread so fast is that they sound simple. Real health advice is usually
boring. Eat balanced meals. Sleep properly. Move your body. Get regular check-ups. That
doesn't go viral. But "This one fruit burns belly fat overnight" does. And so it spreads,
shared in family WhatsApp groups, reposted by influencers, repeated so often that it
starts to feel true.

A substantial proportion of health-related posts on social media contain
misinformation
Several systematic reviews document that a substantial proportion of health-related
posts on social media contain misinformation, especially about vaccines, smoking
products, diet, and noncommunicable diseases.

A 2021 systematic review (69 studies) found highest misinformation prevalence on
Twitter, particularly around smoking/drugs and vaccines and still sizable misinformation on
major issues such as cancer and pandemics.
A WHO-linked systematic review shows that exposure to misleading health content
correlates with increased anxiety, avoidance of evidence-based care, and reduced
vaccine uptake.

Not just this, a cohort study on US college students found that more social-media use
correlated with more somatic symptoms, doctor visits, and higher levels of inflammatory
biomarkers (e.g., IL-6), suggesting a link between platform overuse and poorer
physical-health indicators.