TikTok trend fact v fiction: Mouth tape, red-light therapy, the carnivore diet & more. Here’s what experts say

Social media, especially TikTok, has become a hub for health advice that often isn’t based on evidence and can even be harmful.

This makes debunking the bad health information that spreads online that much more important.

Here are some of the most interesting — and sometimes shocking — TikTok health trends that we’ve asked health experts about so far.

1. Using mouth tape for sleep could be dangerous

In late 2022, many TikTok users posted videos of themselves taping their mouths before bed, claiming it provided a good night’s rest. #Mouthtape had 38.5 million views on the app.

Posters claimed mouth taping helped them to reduce snoring, breathe through their nose and even give them better breath in the morning.

But when asked if taping your mouth shut would actually improve your sleep, Dr. David Schulman, professor of medicine at Emory School of Medicine, said “the answer is probably not”.

Schulman explained that there are several negative possible outcomes that can come from mouth taping, including a few that are potentially dangerous:

• Difficulty breathing if you’re congested
• Worsening your breathing while you sleep
• Lip irritation from the tape
• Allergies
• Dry lips

“I do not advocate that patients tape their mouth for sleep,” Dr Schulman said.

“And certainly, if they snore and might have sleep apnea, that can get worse. So that’s particularly a dangerous thing to do.”

2. The sleepy girl mocktail may help you fall asleep, but it depends

A better, safer choice than mouth taping may be the sleepy girl mocktail. The concoction of magnesium, prebiotic soda and tart cherry juice has been touted for sleep health benefits.

Wellness influencer Gracie Norton, who sparked interest in the drink, said it gave her the best sleep of her life.

Drinking tart cherry juice may help to induce sleep because it contains tryptophan, an amino acid that can prompt the production of melatonin, according to Azizi Seixas, a sleep and circadian sciences expert at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

But Mr Seixas said that tart cherry juice would only help you fall asleep if you weren’t producing enough melatonin, which is not the case for most people.

“A lot of us who suffer from sleep deprivation, don’t suffer from [it] because of underproduction of melatonin. It’s primarily because of all of these different lifestyle barriers like stress [and] poor eating,” he said.

Keep in mind that tart cherry juice can be high in sugar, which can negatively affect sleep if you drink the concoction too close to bedtime, he added. For people who are pre-diabetic or diabetic, “that can significantly spike your glucose levels,” and have health consequences, Seixas said.

3. Red light therapy masks may improve skin health

When we reported on red light therapy masks in February, it had over 70 million views on TikTok. The biggest benefit of using LED light masks that people share online is that they can improve skin health and have anti-aging properties.

LED light therapy emits microcurrents that have been linked to wound healing, a benefit that was initially discovered by NASA. The effects of red wavelength lights specifically are “more in tune with anti-aging,” said dermatologist Bertha Baum, because it’s “good for collagen production”.

“Most [devices] are made for daily use,” Ms Baum said, and it’s important to adhere to the suggested time length for use which is usually between five and 10 minutes.

It’s also incredibly important to use LED light therapy devices that have been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration, she emphasised.

People who have inflammatory conditions like systemic lupus and systemic sclerosis should speak with their doctors before using LED light therapy devices, she added.

4. The carnivore diet is ‘basically a terrible idea’

We’ve seen many diets trending on TikTok this year, but none shocked most people more than the carnivore diet.

The diet consists of mainly beef, butter, bacon and eggs, and minimizes or cuts out fruits and vegetables completely.

Videos on TikTok show people eating 12 scrambled eggs in a single day or snacking on a stick of butter as if it were a carrot.

Followers of the diet claim that it has improved their skin health, repaired the state of their gut and helped them get into the best shape they’ve ever been.

But some doctors, like Dr Walter Willet who is a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard, were not in favor of the diet.

“It’s possible that some people who have been eating a lot of refined starch and sugar may get better in the short run,” with the carnivore diet, Mr Willett said.

“But this sounds like a diet that is going to be very unhealthy in the long run.”

A lack of fruits and vegetables devoid of a diet of fibre, carotenoids and polyphenols which are all important for preventing or lowering the development of health conditions like depression or certain cancers. Eating mainly meat and dairy also can increase a person’s intake of saturated fat and cholesterol which can increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

The carnivore diet “sounds like basically a terrible idea,” Mr Willet said.

This article was first published at cnbc.com.