Erin O'Hara: Naturopath and wellness expert explains why we fall for influencer health fads

There's growing concern about the marketing power of health influencers - and how people get caught up in trying trends pushed by people with dubious medical credentials.

TikTok users have recently been spotlighting berberine - a treatment dubbed 'nature's Ozempic' by health influencers.

Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara explains why we feel drawn in by social media trends, and stressed the importance of researching first. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News talks'db.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Aron O'Hara, morning to you, Good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Now.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
For those that don't know you're a natural path. You
hold a Bachelor of Science and Physiology and a Bachelor
of Natural Medicine. You're pretty qualified. And I love this
because often we turn to he says, feeling quite guilty
social media and all these things popping up and telling
me what I should and shouldn't be doing. How many
people do you reckon a falling for the health food

(00:36):
crazes and supplements that are advertised on social media.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
I think there's a lot of the younger generation in particular,
where they get all their information for living in health
on social media, particularly Instagram and TikTok, and it has
a lot of concern because a lot of the people
that are posting on the social media channels, they don't
always have credentials that actually give them that good credential

(01:01):
to actually promote health products or supplements or diets. However,
they're doing it anyway, and there's a lot of social
influence on that.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
But how are you supposed to know when someone's wearing
the latest beautiful exercise gear and they're a supermodel and
they look like they know what they're talking about. They
tell you they've got a PhD in something. How are
you supposed to know?

Speaker 3 (01:21):
Well, that's the thing, like if you're looking at something,
whether it's a new health craze or a diet, instead
of just taking whatever they're sharing on their social media,
instead actually looking at it and going is that actually
the right thing for me? And actually working out maybe
doing your own research, whether you do a little Google
search or one of my favorite places for doing research

(01:43):
is PubMed, which is where you'll find like all the
medical research and nutrition studies and all sorts of things
on there. But it's good to actually do your own
research rather than using social media as your research platform,
because it's.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Not is it a bit dangerous though you say do
your own research. Most of us don't have PhDs in anything,
So how are you supposed to know? And there's not
a lot of scientific evidence for a lot of vitamins,
for example, is there they say things like this may help,
It might be good for don't they?

Speaker 3 (02:13):
Yeah, there is a little bit of that, And I
think that's where you're like getting some advice, whether it's
going to a nutritious dietitian, natural path, or even discuss
with your doctor before implementing any new health plans. Because
the thing is with all this online sort of marketing
is there's that perception of like there's the visually engaging

(02:34):
content as well as that social pressure of everybody's taking
this product. So I'm going to take it to also
that sort of what they call echo chambers where everything
you're looking at because there's the algorithms also online is
that you'll get more of that content, so not actually
using it in that way, but also there's a lack
of readily available scientific evidence as you say, you know,

(02:58):
and they may contradict each other as well, like for instance,
looking at the burberine and you know, there's the tiktop
influences crazy about berberine being the natural zimpic, which you
may have heard of that one, but actually when as
a herbalist, which it is a herb is barbery is
berberine and there's not research around that as it been

(03:20):
a for use for weight loss, and I personally wouldn't
use it for weight loss. So that's where actually getting
some advice before you just go down to sort of
chemist warehouse or somewhere a pharmacy and buy some products instead,
be like, Okay, is it actually used for that or
are we just sort of following whatever someone's telling us
on social media and it's actually used for something a
little bit different, because, for instance, berberine is mainly used

(03:43):
for like insulin regulation, but it wouldn't actually help with
weight loss, and that's not something I personally would prescribe
for weight loss.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Here we go, all good stuff. Erin O'Hara, Thank you
so much. Erin O'Hara, our naturopath. Here on the Sunday session.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
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