Mallory DeMille wants more people to be skeptical of wellness influencers. That’s why she spends her free time making videos on TikTok and Instagram that point out the unproven remedies and marketing tactics behind many wellness claims on social media.
DeMille, a social media specialist with a background in marketing, has highlighted influencers using the Los Angeles wildfires to peddle detoxes, fear mongering about parasites, and making claims about supplements that sound different than the disclaimers on the product’s websites.
In a series DeMille calls “mental gymnastics,” she does handstands while pointing out the contradictions in common wellness talking points.
“Big Pharma is keeping you sick to take your money — but also — give me your money and take my supplements indefinitely,” she quips. “Do not eat these foods because they are poison — but also — drink borax and put this ozone up your a**.”
DeMille, who contributes to the Conspirituality podcast about these topics, is part of a growing group of content creators trying to counteract misleading and false wellness claims online.
“I’d say that 99% of what I’m doing now is putting out fires started by these wellness influencers,” said Jess Steier, a public health scientist who first became active on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. She runs a public health data consultancy, which produces Unbiased Science, a podcast and social media science communication initiative. Steier said while wellness influencers can make sweeping claims, it takes time for scientists to dig into research and respond with facts. And when they do, “it’s a lot more gray, it’s a lot less sexy.”
Jessica Knurick has a doctorate in nutrition science and is a registered dietician, but these days she spends much of her time creating social media content that includes countering wellness influencers’ claims. She has more than 860,000 followers between TikTok and Instagram.
Knurick said she supports a wellness-focused lifestyle and she herself identifies as “old-school crunchy.” The problem, she said, is “this social media wellness space that is using a lot of fear based, conspiratorial, anti-science language” and is “taking advantage of people to then sell them supplements and other wellness solutions.”
DeMille, 33, had exactly that kind of experience while in her 20s. She became sucked into the wellness claims she saw on Instagram, which led her to buy products she didn’t need and an unhealthy relationship with food and her body. Now she draws on that experience in her content, which she describes as a passion project.
“The best thing I ever did for my health and wellness, I stopped taking advice from wellness influencers and wellness business owners who financially profit off the unregulated nature of the wellness industry,” DeMille said in a post she made last month. “Which is to say — they can make incredibly sus[pect] claims about the products and services they sell without evidence.”
Science and health experts grapple with MAHA
Meanwhile, science and health experts are learning they have to be on social media to be where people go for health information, said Katelyn Jetelina, a public health expert who runs Your Local Epidemiologist, a public health website and newsletter.
She’s brought together a collective of about 15 health communicators who are collaborating on social media content and sharing resources.
Jetelina said people in search of health information aren’t just looking for facts, they want storytellers and narrators.
“Scientists are never taught how to do this,” Jetelina said. “So we’re kind of catching up to influencers out there and understanding what works and what doesn’t work.”
After an account promoting Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is now Secretary of Health and Human Services, shared a popular post last December asking “Do you support RFK Jr. removing high-fructose corn syrup from baby formula?” Knurick went to Instagram to set the record straight.
“Lots of people are revved up, let’s go RFK Jr, get that high fructose corn syrup out of formula!” Knurick says in her reel. Then she added, “There’s only one problem: not a single infant formula in the United States includes high fructose corn syrup.”
Over the past several months, many wellness influencers have also been promoting Kenendy and his Make America Healthy Again — or MAHA — campaign.
Higher stakes
Since Kennedy spent years spreading falsehoods about vaccines before becoming the country’s top health official, and sweeping government cuts have slashed staff at federal health agencies — science content creators say the stakes just got even higher for the work they do.
Yet research suggests algorithms on popular social media sites can guide users toward sensationalized and polarizing content rather than nuanced information. That’s one of many reasons it’s hard for pro-science accounts to become successful influencers.
Not to mention, it usually doesn’t pay the bills.
“Most science communicators aren’t selling you a myriad of supplements and wellness solutions at like a 50% markup,” Knurick said.
Nevertheless, social media users who disagree with scientists and health experts often accuse them, without evidence, of being paid off. After Knurick received a comment like that last month she responded in a post. “Have you ever met a scientist? You do not get into science for the money,” Knurick said in her video. “At the same time, you do not have any skepticism of the wellness influencers that you follow who are purposefully eroding trust in science so you only trust them so they can sell you products.”
Knurick works part time as a consultant but is also trying to monetize her online content, which includes a newsletter in addition to her social media posts. She said she has only accepted one brand deal so far, with a company that makes Vitamin D drops for infants. Knurick said she may have to take on more brand deals in the future, but will limit it to companies she believes in.
“You can’t do all of this work for free forever,” she said.
Transcript:
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Social media is rife with false health claims – claims like your food is poisoning you or that six-week-old raw milk is safe to drink. These claims are often promoted by wellness influencers who are peddling supplements along with these sensational statements. But as NPR’s Jude Joffe-Block reports, some scientists and pro-science influencers are trying to fight back.
JUDE JOFFE-BLOCK, BYLINE: Mallory DeMille wants more people to be skeptical of wellness influencers. She’s a social media specialist with a background in marketing. And in her spare time, she uses those skills to make snarky TikTok and Instagram videos highlighting how some influencers promote unproven remedies and use multilevel marketing ploys, known as MLMs.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MALLORY DEMILLE: OK, the game today is guess the MLM and guess how much is preloaded into this cart link thing.
JOFFE-BLOCK: In this video, DeMille is taking on a post by an influencer who promotes essential oils.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DEMILLE: I personally would love to know why she’s recommending $500-worth of doTERRA oils for cancer.
JOFFE-BLOCK: The influencer didn’t respond to a request for comment, but her website has a disclaimer that says she doesn’t provide medical advice or treatment. In other videos, DeMille does handstands while she jokes about the mental gymnastics behind many wellness influencers’ talking points.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DEMILLE: First, big pharma is keeping you sick to take your money. But also, give me your money and take my supplements indefinitely.
JOFFE-BLOCK: DeMille is part of a growing group of social media creators trying to counteract unproven wellness claims online. When a popular post claimed some baby formulas have high-fructose corn syrup and suggested Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who’s now the Secretary of Health and Human Services, could ban it, Jessica Knurick went to Instagram to set the record straight.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JESSICA KNURICK: Lots of people are revved up and ready to go. Let’s go RFK Jr., get that high-fructose corn syrup out of formula. There’s only one problem. Not a single infant formula in the entire United States includes high-fructose corn syrup.
JOFFE-BLOCK: Knurick has a PhD in nutrition science and is a registered dietician. Lately, she dedicates a lot of her time to social media, where she has more than 860,000 followers between Instagram and TikTok. Knurick says she’s all for a wellness-focused lifestyle. She even identifies as old-school crunchy herself. The problem, she says…
KNURICK: It’s really the social media wellness space that is using a lot of fear-based, conspiratorial, anti-science language, taking advantage of people to then sell them supplements and other wellness solutions.
JOFFE-BLOCK: Over the past several months, many of these influencers have also been promoting Kennedy and his Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, campaign. And Kennedy has raised their profile too.
KNURICK: RFK Jr. – a lot of his talking points are the same talking points that wellness influencers use.
JOFFE-BLOCK: And since Kennedy spent years spreading vaccine misinformation before becoming the country’s top health official and federal health programs are now being slashed, scientists say the stakes just got even higher for counteracting false health claims online. Yet research suggests algorithms on popular social media sites can guide users toward extreme and sensationalized content rather than nuanced information. That’s one of the many reasons it’s hard for scientists to become successful influencers, not to mention, it usually doesn’t pay the bills.
KNURICK: Most science communicators aren’t selling you a myriad of supplements and wellness solutions at, you know, like, a 50% markup.
JOFFE-BLOCK: Another concern – online harassment is common against people who advocate for vaccines and against ideas popularized by wellness influencers. Still, scientists need to be on social media because that’s where people are going for health information, says Katelyn Jetelina, a public health expert who runs Your Local Epidemiologist, a health newsletter and website. Jetelina says people don’t just want facts. They want storytellers and narrators they can connect with.
KATELYN JETELINA: Scientists are never taught how to do this, right? So we’re kind of catching up to influencers out there in understanding what works and what doesn’t work.
JOFFE-BLOCK: And what is clear is that health information on social media, whether it’s from influencers or experts, will keep playing a bigger and bigger role in how we think about health.
Jude Joffe-Block, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF HI-TEK SONG, “ALL I NEED IS YOU”)
