by There is an alarming amount of conflicting health information online.
Scroll through your Instagram feed, and it won’t be long before you find—amongst the posts of generic quotes about accepting imperfection and pictures from your best friend’s Caribbean vacation—the wild, and sometimes dangerous, opinions of the non-experts.
What will you read today? Are those oats bad for you? Or that the best way to start the day is with a glass of hot lemon water?
We are so used to turning to the internet for health advice – data from the Statista Research Department shows that 60 per cent of people in the UK use the internet for this exact reason – that elaborates on what is true and real ( and what not) has become extremely difficult.
This is where Dr Idrees Mughal (aka Dr Idz) comes in. on a mission to correct medical misinformation on social media, by offering advice based on medical evidence.
We caught up with Dr Idz before the publication of his first book, Saturated Factsto find out the motivation behind becoming a ‘social media doctor’ – and how he plans to debunk the common fitness claims we see being circulated online time and time again.
Here, he talks to WH about his desire to bust a myth, inform and educate – and help the public make more informed decisions about their diet.
WH: Why do you think so many of us find it so difficult to find nutrition and diet advice?
Dr Idz: There is a wealth of nutrition information available from a variety of sources, including the internet, social media, books and ‘experts’. This information often contains conflicting advice, with one source promoting a particular diet or food as beneficial while another may consider it harmful. In addition, nutritional advice is often generalized, without taking into account individual differences in metabolism, genetics, health status, activity levels and personal preferences. This can make it difficult for people to find advice that works for them personally. Scientific studies, now easily accessible to most people, can be complicated and their results are often sworn. When these results are reported on social media or in headlines, they can be oversimplified or misinterpreted, leading to misleading advice.
Nutrition is a complex field that involves understanding how different nutrients and dietary patterns affect the body’s functions. Simplifying this complexity into easily digestible advice without losing nuance can be challenging, but it’s something I’ve struggled to achieve in my book. Saturated Facts.
WH: Why did you decide to take to social media to start calling out health myths?
Dr Idz: In the middle of the Covid lockdown in January 2021 in the UK, my doctor colleagues informed me about this new platform called TikTok. They suggested that since I can’t continue to offer nutrition and fitness advice to clients in person, why don’t I take to TikTok and offer that advice there? Within a day of downloading and scrolling through TikTok, I became hyper-aware of the huge amount of garbage health advice online. The first viral video I came across was ‘HOW TO LOSE 10LBS IN 2 WEEKS!’. It was just a woman dressed in the latest workout clothes, showing off her cucumber, mint and lemon juice. The scary thing was that the video had received 10 million views, with thousands of comments saying they were going to try it… This was the turning point. This was when I knew I needed to do something.
WH: What is the most common diet myth that you keep debunking?
Dr Idz: There are some diet myths that I always find myself debunking. The idea that ‘seed and vegetable oils are toxic for you’ or that ‘artificial sweeteners are bad for you’. There is also a worrying increase in the number of people advocating a whole carnivore diet and the notion that ‘blood sugar spikes are causing type 2 diabetes and inflammation’. I detail all of these and more in detail Saturated Facts.
One common fallacy shared by all these myth makers is the idea that “Natural is good and anything artificial is bad for you”. This logic can be easily dismantled through a few quick examples. Arsenic is found naturally in many foods including seafood, rice, mushrooms and poultry. Does that make you feel good? What about heavy metals? They are also natural. Just because something is ‘natural’ does not make it healthy and just because something is not found in nature, does not make it harmful or bad. We need to look objectively at the evidence to assess whether something is promoting health or not. For example, whey protein powders, iodized salt and vitamin D tablets are not things you find in nature, but they are definitely beneficial for you.
WH: What is the one thing you wish everyone knew about the connection between our diet and inflammation?
Dr Idz: You will find literally 100,000 videos online saying things like ‘This ONE food is causing inflammation!’ or ‘Avoid these three foods because they are responsible for your chronic inflammatory disease!’ The one thing people need to understand is that the impact of your diet on inflammation needs to be viewed through the lens of the entire dietary pattern. That is, the quantity and wholeness of all the foods you eat and in what proportions. This is how you assess whether your diet is increasing or decreasing body inflammation. A person who eats a minimally processed diet, with plenty of whole grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables, will not increase their inflammatory markers from a single meal of fried chicken and soda. The tool we use in research to assess the effect of diet on inflammation is called the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) and I go into detail about it. Saturated Facts on what is an anti-inflammatory and pro-inflammatory diet.
WH: What’s your best strategy for losing body fat (and keeping it off)?
Dr Idz: Losing weight or body fat is a complex and often difficult process. That’s why I’ve dedicated a whole chapter to it in my book, however, one beneficial strategy that I think is underutilized is the idea of self-monitoring. Having some metric by which you can hold yourself accountable in the early stages of your weight loss journey. Whether that’s keeping a food diary, taking body measurements (for example, waist circumference or arm measurements), using calorie tracking apps or taking daily body weight measurements. Keeping a food diary, for example, can make it easier to identify what areas you need to improve. Are you consuming too many sugary drinks? Are you not eating enough low-calorie fruits and vegetables? Are you eating too many oils or sauces? It can be very eye-opening and beneficial to notice your current habits when starting any weight loss journey.
WH: How important are meal times?
Dr Idz: This is a complicated topic, but I will say that meal timing is more important than we think. The field of Chrono Nutrition is fascinating and we are slowly beginning to understand the direct and indirect effects of adjusting your meal timing. For example, evidence shows that consuming most of your calories in the early part of your day can benefit blood glucose regulation, sleep quality, general daily movement, energy levels, concentration and productivity, weight loss efforts and more. This is particularly important in today’s health landscape as the vast majority of people eat their largest meal in the evening.
WH: What advice do you have for questioning what we see and read on social media?
Dr Idz: With the rise of social media, a large number of ‘wellness influencers’ have taken to online platforms to promote unscientific products and promise magical solutions to all sorts of health problems. This is why I like my audience to develop their ‘nonsense radar’. These include some quick filters to apply that will help you find 95% of garbage health advice online.
4 ways to spot misinformation online
1) They blame food or habit alone for the increase in chronic diseases we see today, often citing ingredients like oils seeds or sugar.
This shows that they lack nuance and do not understand that chronic disease is caused by a multitude of biological, environmental and psychological factors. No single food or habit can be responsible for chronic disease.
2) They speak completely when making statements, (eg: ‘These are the worst foods for your gut’)
There is no ‘worst food’ for everyone as it really depends on the individual. There are no absolutes in health and nutrition science. Peanuts may be the ‘worst food’ to eat for someone with a peanut allergy, but it can be a huge health booster for someone else. Someone using absolutist statements like this is usually a red flag.
3) They imply that their knowledge is based on research without citing that research
We need to be more comfortable trying to testify to creators. ‘What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence’. If they don’t provide evidence you can ignore it. This will save you a lot of time and stress trying to figure out if a piece of advice is legitimate or not
4) They pressure you not to trust modern medicine while selling unregulated and untested supplements
Finally, there are people who are anti-Western medicine, but have no problem selling you supplements untested quacks over the top. The truth is, many of the fear-mongers would not be alive today if it were not for modern medicine. I’m all for promoting a positive lifestyle and dietary change as the primary intervention, but to imply that modern medical interventions are unhelpful or designed to ‘keep you sick’ immediately, they tell you, is not they have no idea what they are saying. about.
Dr Idrees Mughal (Dr Idz). Saturated Facts published by Penguin on 14th March 2024.
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