{"id":644165,"date":"2026-10-07T09:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T13:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/?p=644165"},"modified":"2026-10-07T09:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T13:48:12","slug":"which-health-and-wellness-influencers-talk-about-medical-topics-mostly-healthcare-professionals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/data-labs\/2026\/10\/07\/which-health-and-wellness-influencers-talk-about-medical-topics-mostly-healthcare-professionals\/","title":{"rendered":"Which Health and Wellness Influencers Talk About Medical Topics? Mostly Healthcare Professionals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
About this research<\/summary>\n

This study looks at the content posted by health and<\/strong> wellness influencers<\/strong> \u2013 individuals with large audiences online who provide information about health and wellness, largely on social media. It builds on our previous study<\/a> of who these influencers are and how U.S. adults engage with their content. It includes an analysis of the topics these influencers discuss, how often their posts include promotions, and how they present their expertise and experiences in social media posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did we do this?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Medical professionals remain the most common source of health information<\/a> among U.S. adults. But many get information about their health from sources outside of the doctor\u2019s office, including social media. We conducted this study to better understand what the public might encounter when they get health and wellness information on social media, including how health and wellness influencers discuss a variety of topics there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did we do this?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This report is based on an analysis of social media posts published by 6,334 health and wellness influencers. We collected 535,512 Instagram, TikTok and YouTube posts published by these influencers from Feb. 1 to April 30, 2026. Then, we analyzed the audio, video and captions of these posts to better understand what these influencers discuss online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We identified multiple health and wellness topics and grouped those topics into two broader categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Healthy living<\/strong>:<\/strong> This category includes posts that mention fitness, tips for building healthy habits, nutrition, improving physical appearance, medications or supplements that can be taken without consulting a medical professional, and how to live longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medical issues:<\/strong> This category includes posts that mention medical conditions, treatments or medications that must be performed or prescribed by a medical professional, personal experiences with a disease or the healthcare system, mental health, or men\u2019s or women\u2019s health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information about the sample of health and wellness influencers and how we identified them, refer to the methodology of our first report<\/a>. For more details about how we collected social media posts and analyzed the content of these posts, refer to the methodology of this report<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

Social media offer a source of health information<\/a> for many Americans, and healthcare professionals have raised concerns<\/a> about non-experts spreading inaccurate or harmful medical advice online. But a Pew Research Center analysis of more than a half million social media posts from more than 6,000 health and wellness influencers from February to April 2026 finds that when it comes to medical topics, the influencers posting about them most often are healthcare professionals.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Influencers who aren\u2019t health professionals rarely discuss medical topics like conditions, treatments<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
Among health\/wellness influencers who say they have each background, % of posts that mention each topic<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n
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Note: Posts may discuss multiple health and wellness topics. Some topics and professions analyzed in this study are not shown.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
Source: Pew Research Center analysis of 535,512 Instagram, TikTok and YouTube posts published by 6,334 health and wellness influencers from February to April 2026.
\u201cWhat Do Health and Wellness Influencers Post About?\u201d<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
PEW RESEARCH CENTER<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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