These Nutritionists Are Calling Out TikTok Recipes That Are Actually Terrible For Your Body (And Mind)

There’s a new trend of ― no joke ― steeping whole lettuce leaves in your tea. Supposedly, it helps you sleep. 

“There is no scientific evidence to suggest this sleep aid works in humans,” Harbstreet said.

The idea likely comes from the fact that certain molecules found in romaine lettuce have been shown to promote sleep in animal studies, but that’s hardly a reason to believe that putting a few leaves in your tea will have the same effect.

“Videos like this speak to the effort of TikTok influencers to gain clout by hopping on trends. You’ll notice many of the videos exaggerate the alleged outcomes by making claims that they ‘fell asleep and forgot to finish the video,’ suggesting it works better than claimed.”

The bottom line? Don’t mistake TikTok trends for legitimate nutrition advice.

“As a dietitian, I see many of these trends as the manifestation of our culture’s deeply disordered relationship with food and health,” Harbstreet said. “The majority of them exhibit orthorexic tendencies as best, with some major red flags for eating disorder behaviors at worst.” Essentially, they’re about eating less — fewer calories, fewer carbs, less sugar, and sometimes just as little food as possible.

Plus, many of these trends take off, not because the recipe itself looks good, but because the influencer in the video fits the false cultural idea of what “healthy” looks like — young, white, able-bodied, and very thin.

“I have some growing concerns about what damage this is doing to our perception of not only what ‘healthy’ eating looks like, but also who we look to when we think of how to be ‘healthy,’” Harbstreet said.

If you’re hoping to improve your health, seek out expert guidance from a credentialed health professional. Don’t turn to TikTok.

This post originally appeared on HuffPost.