TikTok: a far-reaching opportunity for health professionals to address weight loss

Objectives: Recent behavioral research indicates that social media may be successfully integrated into weight loss interventions to mitigate the obesity epidemic that has been linked with type two diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers, as well as poor psychological health. This study aimed to examine the content and characteristics of 100 most trending TikTok videos related to weight loss.Study design: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study.Methods: Videos were analyzed for source, predominant theme, and inclusion of specific content. Independent two-tailed t-tests assessed the effect of content on number of comments, likes, and forwards garnered by the videos.Results: More than 90% of the videos were consumer generated, indicating a missed opportunity by health professionals to use social media to provide accurate information regarding weight loss. Less than one-fifth of the videos were informational but significantly influenced the number of comments (P <.001) and likes (P = .002). Videos mentioning benefits ((P <.001) and speed of weight loss (P = .003) significantly influenced the number of forwards, whereas those that mentioned recipes (P = .005) and how to lose weight (P =.003) significantly affected the number of comments.Conclusion: The results underscore the need for further research to elucidate the effectiveness of social media in impacting weight loss, as well as how they may supplement traditional health promotion and behavior interventions for weight loss. (c) 2022 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.