Thoughts on influencer RDs and that WaPo article
Have you seen the recent article from the Washington Post about “influencer dietitians”? I have… thoughts.
But first, what is the article about?
The article itself focuses first on dietitians with large social media followings who were paid by American Beverage for sponsored posts touting the safety of aspartame after the updated guidelines from the WHO came out. I shared my (very unsponsored) thoughts here. The dietitians in question here did seem to disclose that their posts were sponsored, but sometimes in ways that were a little unclear. They were all very much on the side of aspartame being 100% safe to consume.
Then, the article focuses on the opposite - dietitians encouraging followers to eat sugar in posts sponsored by the Canadian Sugar Institute. It goes on to talk about the lack of transparency in some sponsored posts, and how the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) has very close relationships with the big food and beverage industry. The article was not kind to dietitians, but definitely thought provoking.
Which leads me to ask: why pick on dietitians?
Dietetics is a mostly female profession. I’m not not saying that I think this played a role in the development of this article. I am for sure asking where the similar hit pieces are for other health professionals, especially male health professionals, who post sponsored content and questionable advice on their pages. Or the health professionals whose content and health advice seem to exist only to sell their books, supplements and/or programs. Mark Hyman, for example. Are all of his recommendations based on evidence, unbiased and in no way serve to make him money? Please. And then what about the myriad of other influencers - chiropractors, naturopaths, “hormone experts” dolling out absolutely insane and dangerous advice on the regular to support their own brands or brand partners? Let’s focus on those folks too.
It’s our job as dietitians to provide evidence-based advice
Becoming a dietitian involves taking research methods classes, doing your own research, and learning in depth how to interpret scientific studies in a way that can be translated into meaningful advice for real humans. When it comes to the posts on aspartame, that is sort of what these dietitians are doing. Even if they’re saying it in an obnoxious way, it’s true that you’d have to consume A LOT of aspartame in order to experience adverse health outcomes, and that consuming small amounts of it on occasion has been shown to be safe. However, I don’t think the blanket statement of “aspartame is safe!” makes sense either, and can be really confusing to the consumer who is following these accounts but not delving into the research.
Opinions in dietetics are like…
well, you know. Everyone has them, and try as we do, opinions and personal views do creep into dietitians’ philosophies, opinions and recommendations. When food is involved, it’s nearly impossible for this not to happen at least a little bit - I myself am guilty at times, and I know other health professionals are too. That’s why I think dietitians especially need to check themselves and/or participate in supervision. It’s one thing to talk about eating sugar or sweets on occasion as part of a varied diet and when you’re craving something, because I do believe all foods can fit and deprivation is never helpful. But it’s another to eat a ton of sweets or processed foods in a post and to generally encourage people to do the same - that’s also sort of misleading and irresponsible. That it’s usually a thin dietitian with a self-disclosed history of disordered eating behind this sort of content is probably a whole different post entirely.
Trusting sponsored content
I’m not here to tell you who to trust or what to do, but personally, I always approach sponsored posts with skepticism (or skip them entirely). Is it possible that every podcast host on the planet loves Athletic Greens? Probably not, especially if it disappears from their feed as soon as the partnership is over. Being paid to promote a product or brand muddies the waters in terms of what an individual with influence actually likes, uses or recommends.
Dietitian integrity & compensation
The challenge with dietitians is that we want to be, and technically are, the trusted professionals when it comes to nutrition and nutrition advice, and we do have a code ethics. We also deserve to be compensated for our expertise, and this is a career that is surprisingly hard to make a living in. I think it’s great that social media has given dietitians a new way of making money. When the compensation is coming from a particular brand or company, however, it can take away from an individual dietitian’s credibility and really, our profession’s credibility as a whole. This is what the article is trying to say, at least. I can imagine how easy it is to get sucked into lucrative partnerships that pay your bills (and then some) when you have perhaps had trouble making ends meet as an RD. This is definitely not something we learned in school, nor is it something the AND has any guidance on. As a matter of fact, I’m having trouble thinking of anything the AND has actual guidance on in these modern times.
So who do you trust?
Clients ask me often about who they can trust for health advice on the internet and in social media. I wrote about it here. I’d probably add to the existing list: sponsored content. Not because all of the information and advice in sponsored content is wrong, but because it can be quite one-sided and misleading.
Lastly, I will say that this article only focused on a handful of dietitians, and the vast majority of RDs are not influencers who make their living from brand partnerships.
Anyways, thanks for reading. I’m sure I have more insights I haven’t been able to articulate that well, but would love to hear thoughts on this topic.