#539 TikTok Trends in Medicine

September 14, 2026 | By Leah Witt

Audio

Video

Transcript available via YouTube

Peptides, Mouth Tape, Raw Milk & More: What’s Worth the Hype?

Learn the evidence on social media wellness trends and how to discuss with your patients (and friends!) without being dismissive (or falling for the hype). Explore viral trends like peptides, red light masks, sleepy girl mocktails and mouth taping along with understanding influencer incentives for promoting wellness trends. We’re joined by infectious disease epidemiologist and science communicator Jessica Malaty Rivera to talk evidence, uncertainty, misinformation, and trust, @jessicamalatyrivera, (JPHMP, @jessicamalatyrivera, Making Science Make Sense Substack),

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Show Segments

• Intro 
• Case
• Why health information spreads on social media
• Talking to patients about viral wellness trends
• Peptides
• Red light masks
• Mouth taping
• Sleepy girl mocktails
• Raw milk and the appeal-to-nature fallacy
• Fibermaxxing
• Contrast therapy and cold plunging
• Take-home points
• Outro

Credits

• Producers, Writers, Show Notes, Infographics, Cover Art:: Rand Mudafr, Leah Witt Gaspard, MD
• Hosts: Matthew Watto MD, FACP; Paul Williams MD, FACP   
• Reviewer: Sai Achi, MD MBA FACP
• Showrunners: Matthew Watto MD, FACP; Paul Williams MD, FACP
• Technical Production: PodPaste
• Guest: Jessica Malaty Rivera

Disclosures

Jessica Malaty Rivera reports no relevant financial disclosures. The Curbsiders report no relevant financial disclosures. 

Tik Tok Trends Pearls

1. Listen before you debunk. Ask patients where they get health and wellness information, what they are trying/using, and what they are trying to achieve. After curiosity, you can share what medical information you do (or do not) have. 
2. Clinician uncertainty ≠ weakness. Being honest builds trust. Overstating certainty does not. Do not be afraid to say “we (or I) don’t know yet” and explain what evidence does and does not exist.
3. Advise caution with peptides such as BPC-157. Current “prescriptions” are gray market only (products are for “research purposes only” and patients often have to reconstitute them). As of this recording, the FDA is considering 7 for official compounding but nothing has been “approved” to date. Online claims about healing and recovery are likely overstated and do not match available human evidence. Product quality, dosing, and contamination are additional concerns.
4. Red light therapy is heterogenous. Mask light avelength, irradiance, fluence, and treatment duration matter, so evidence for one studied device cannot automatically be generalized to every consumer mask.
5. Mouth taping is not a cure all (despite its very strong advocates). If mouth breathing is present, evaluate nasal obstruction or sleep-disordered breathing before treating mouth taping as a simple sleep hack.
6. Sleepy girl mocktails are more trend than breakthrough. Tart cherry juice contains small amounts of melatonin and magnesium is generally safe for many adults, but evidence for the branded combinations promoted online is limited.
7. “Natural” does not mean safer. Raw milk illustrates the appeal-to-nature fallacy: less processing does not inherently make a food healthier. Pasteurization is one of science and public health’s greatest accomplishments! 
8. Fibermaxxing is actually real (not hype)! Most adults could benefit from more dietary fiber. Caution that rapidly increasing intake can cause GI symptoms; increase gradually and prioritize fiber-rich whole foods.
9. Cold plunges and contrast therapy spas make broad wellness and longevity claims that are likely overstated. The best evidence available is for saunas, though it is more correlation than causation. 
10. Social media popularity  ≠ evidence. Don’t let the “halo effect” cloud your judgment. Algorithms reward engagement, repetition, and confident messaging, not scientific validity.

TikTok Trends in Medicine – Notes 

Social media has become a major source of health information, particularly in the post-COVID health and wellness landscape (Pedroso et al JAMA 2026). Platforms learn what keeps a user engaged and repeatedly serve similar content, which can make a health claim feel common, credible, or even universally accepted.

On social media, it can be difficult to identify true experts from people that sound credible but are not. A creator/influencer may build trust with an audience in one area and then be treated as an expert in unrelated health topics—this is called “the halo effect”. Creator/influencer financial incentives, affiliate links, sponsorships, and products for sale should be top of mind as patients and clinicians evaluate wellness trends being pushed to them. Also, be aware that AI influencers are increasingly common (Lajka et al NYT 2026).

Talking to Patients About Viral Health Trends

Do not shame patients (or friends/family!) for getting medical information from social media platforms like TikTok or Instagram. Many people are replacing traditional media with social media for mechanisms for information consumption. Instead: 

1. Ask where they get health and wellness information
2. What they are trying/using, and 
3. What they are trying to achieve. 

From there, clinicians can discuss what is known, what remains uncertain, and what potential harms exist. For many clinicians (including us, the hosts!) a lot of these wellness trends are not something we learned in medical school or training, and may require us to do some digging before responding.

Listen deeply! Our expert Jessica Malaty Rivera emphasizes the difference between simply hearing a patient and actually listening. It is also okay to say, “I don’t know.” Be clear about the limits of current evidence (and if you have never heard of something but will look into it!)– this builds trust more than confidently endorsing a trend or immediately dismissing it.

Peptides and BPC-157

Hype (for now! Limited evidence, possible risks): The term peptides means small chains of amino acids– it is no wonder that people people feel compelled to try wellness “peptides” being marketed online to cure everything from wound healing, joint pain, weight loss and anti-aging effects (Vasireddi et al HSS 2025, Lee Alt Therapies in Health & Medicine 2021, Lee Alt Therapies in Health & Medicine 2024). The FDA is currently evaluating 7 peptides (including BPC-157) for approval to be compounded for medical use (Smith NYT 2026). Currently peptides are obtained via websites and medical spas via the “gray market”, which ships them under the auspices of “research use only”, many of which have to be reconstituted and injected at home. In July 2026 an FDA advisory committee voted in favor of broadening access to six peptides, but this recommendation has not been accepted as of this recording. Many scientists have responded with alarm as the efficacy and safety data is extraordinarily limited (Reardon Science 2026).

BPC-157 highlights the gap between online enthusiasm and clinical evidence. There is very limited human data supporting its advertised benefits (zero randomized controlled trials, only very small sample size case series, questionable journals/peer review). The FDA is evaluating it for treating ulcerative colitis.

When patients ask about peptides (or other trends/hacks), focus on a few basic questions: What human evidence exists? What do we know about safety? Is the product approved for this use? And do we actually know what is in the product being purchased? Also it may be helpful to remind patients: who financially benefits from your purchase? Are the influencers that seem credible also becoming rich on this recommendation?

Red Light Masks

Real (with caveats, low risks): Red light therapy is more nuanced than simply calling it a scam (Salamon Harvard 2025). There is evidence supporting photobiomodulation in some settings, but the intervention depends on factors such as wavelength, irradiance, fluence, and duration/consistency of use) (Couturaud Skin Research & Technology 2023, Park Medicine 2025).

That means a consumer mask producing red light is not necessarily equivalent to a device used in a clinical study. For skin aging specifically, established interventions such as sunscreen and topical retinoids have a much stronger evidence base. As discussed in the episode, a red light mask may be the “cherry on top,” not the foundation of a skin-care routine. Potential risks include skin and eye irritation.

Mouth Taping

Hype and medium risk: Mouth taping is promoted for sleep, snoring, mouth breathing, and even appearance (Nestor “Breath” 2020). The available evidence is limited. Potential benefits include snoring or reducing mouth leak during bilevel ventilation (Fangmeyer et al Am J Otolarngol 2025). It is very unlikely that mouth taping is universally beneficial. 

At worst, mouth taping can contribute to airway obstruction for people with chronic nasal obstruction (potentially leading to hypercarbia). More likely, mouth taping could be uncomfortable. Plus, people who tend to breathe from their mouth warrant additional medical evaluation and treatment beyond  simply taping the mouth closed.

Sleepy Girl Mocktails

Hype (but benign): “Sleepy girl mocktails” combine ingredients marketed for sleep, such as tart cherry juice and magnesium, with prebiotic soda or sparkling water.

Tart cherry juice contains a small amount of melatonin, and magnesium is widely used as a sleep supplement, but the episode emphasizes that evidence for these specific viral combinations is limited (Blum NYT 2024). The much touted benefits of magnesium are questionable– see Episode #534: Supplements in Primary Care. If someone enjoys the drink and the ingredients are safe for them, that is different from presenting an expensive branded product as an evidence-based sleep treatment 

The larger point is to separate plausibility from proof. A product can contain ingredients associated with sleep without the final combination itself having strong clinical evidence.

Raw Milk and the Appeal-to-Nature Fallacy

Hype (and dangerous!): Raw milk is a useful example of the appeal-to-nature fallacy: the assumption that something is healthier or safer because it is natural, unprocessed, or closer to how humans historically consumed it.

Pasteurization is one of science’s greatest discoveries! It was developed to reduce exposure to pathogens in milk such as salmonella, E. coli, listeria, tuberculosis and brucellosis (Potter et al JAMA 1984, Wilson BMJ 1943, Currier J Food Prot 2018, Hartocollis NYT 2026).

Drinking raw milk is very risky. Proponents also assume a level of health in the individual consuming raw milk that is just not a given on a population level (eg risks are much higher for people who are immunocompromised, older or infants) (Claeys et al Food Control 2013). 

While correlation studies have suggested that raw milk can reduce respiratory infections, however this has not been demonstrated by causation, and risks are too high to recommend this on a broad scale (Loss et al 2015 J Allergy Clin Imm).

Arguments about raw milk can also become tied to identity and worldview. Simply giving someone more statistics may therefore be ineffective if the underlying belief is that natural products are inherently safer or that conventional medicine is untrustworthy.

Fiber Maxxing

Real and Low Risk! Of the viral trends discussed, fibermaxxing is actually a good idea because many Americans do not consume enough dietary fiber (Dietary Guidelines, NPR 2026). Fiber is important for heart health (it slows glucose spikes and lowers cholesterol!) (Shivakoti et al 2022 JAMA Network Open, Bazzano et al 2003 Archives IM).

That does not mean everyone should suddenly consume enormous amounts. Rapidly increasing fiber can cause bloating and other GI symptoms. Increase intake gradually and prioritize fiber-rich whole foods rather than assuming that every product with added fiber is automatically healthy.

The episode also raises an important distinction between fibermaxxing and proteinmaxxing. More of a beneficial nutrient is not necessarily better, and foods do not become healthier simply because extra protein or fiber has been added (should we get into proteinmaxxing more on a future episode?).

Contrast Therapy and Cold Plunging

Real & Hype, Average Risk: Cold plunges, saunas, and hot-to-cold contrast therapy have become part of the wellness culture. There is also a cultural element:  many cultures across thousands of years have enjoyed “baths” both for socialization and purported health benefits (eg Roman and Turkish baths, Russian banyas).. Saunas are an example of a wellness trend with (correlative) evidence: in a prospective cohort study of 2315 middle aged men from Finland, increased use of saunas (4-7 sessions/wk) was associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality (Laukkanen et al JAMA IM 2015)! Though please remember that correlation does not equal causation and more study is needed.

The best evidence for cold therapy (eg ice baths) appears to be for muscle recovery in elite athletes, with possible benefits including improved muscle soreness compared to rest (Bieuzen PLOSone 2013), but sweeping claims about longevity, immunity, or general health go beyond the available evidence (Cleveland Clinic 2026).

Cold exposure also is not risk-free. Sudden immersion produces significant physiologic stress, which matters particularly for people with underlying cardiovascular conditions.

The practical message is simple: you do not need to suffer to be healthy. If someone enjoys a sauna or cold plunge and can do it safely, that is different from telling patients it is necessary for good health.

Send us your ideas!!

We’d love to make this a recurring series– send us claims, hacks and trends that you want explored for credibility!

Links

Subscribe to Jessica’s Substack!! Making Science Make Sense

On Becoming a Healer (book)

Yesteryear (fiction!)

Dungeon Crawler Carl (more fiction!)

Goal

Listeners will learn about common social media health/wellness trends and develop a framework to evaluate and discuss recommendations with patients.

Learning objectives

After listening to this episode listeners will…  

1. Learn about the most common health trends in social media
2. Explore science communication techniques that make social media trends so compelling 
3. Evaluate the credibility of health information shared by influencers and AI-generated content
4. Develop practical strategies for counseling patients who bring social media health information into a clinical encounter

Citation

Mudafr RA, Witt LJ, Williams PN, Watto MF. “#539 TikTok Trends in Medicine”. The Curbsiders Internal Medicine Podcast. thecurbsiders.com/category/curbsiders-podcast September 14, 2026.