Author: Negin Amin
People are increasingly relying on the internet to obtain health information. Australian Digital Health Agency reported: around 73% of Australians had already used the internet to search for their health issue before visiting their healthcare provider (1). This percentage can vary, depending on the health issue one struggles with.
Cancer diagnosis is often a life-changing experience that can challenge both physical and emotional well-being. For someone who has just been diagnosed with cancer, and their loved ones, the internet can provide comfort but also pose a threat!
Understandably, cancer patients (breast cancer specifically) and their caregivers are actively looking for health information (2, 3). However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and its partner organisations warn about the potential harmful effects of online misinformation on the already vulnerable health of cancer patients (4).
Diet, nutrition, and alternative medicine are among the most popular search topics for people who are dealing with this disease (2, 3) and social media platforms are filled with this type of information. From TikTok videos to YouTube podcasts, from oncologists to health influencers, cancer nutrition information is readily available. But how much of this information that people encounter online is actually accurate and evidence-based?
A new study on the quality of online nutrition information for breast cancer patients shows that the majority of nutrition information available on online platforms is not evidence-based. This study found that more than 87% of the online nutrition recommendations that target breast cancer patients are, in fact, not supported by scientific evidence.
TikTok and X appeared to carry the highest volume of no-evidence information. However, other platforms did not offer much more reliable information either; more than 50% of the nutrition information shared on Facebook and YouTube (short videos) was non-evidence-based.
“Less than 3% of the collected nutrition claims were directly rejected by dietary guidelines and other evidence” this study shows that most of the controversial and mythical information is not shared on the public profiles and websites.
It wasn’t particularly surprising that more than 76% of the nutrition information shared by individual content creators (including bloggers and influencers) was not supported by current scientific evidence. What was surprising was the extent to which these accounts contributed to the sharing of nutrition information about breast cancer. Despite the considerable activity of health professionals and non-profit organisations on YouTube and Google, social media platforms, especially Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest, were largely dominated by individual content creators.
The results of this study, and other similar studies, suggest that, despite the remarkable progress in the oncology nutrition field, there is still a huge gap between scientific knowledge and translating this knowledge into reliable and accessible information for consumers.
“To combat misleading health information, education campaigns are needed to improve media literacy and sufficient resources allocated to disseminate evidence-based information through online platforms.” the study suggests.
- Australian Government. Australia’s National Digital Health Strategy. In: Agency TADH, editor. Canberra: digitalhealth.gov.au; 2020.
- Chen J, Duan Y, Xia H, Xiao R, Cai T, Yuan C. Online health information seeking behavior among breast cancer patients and survivors: a scoping review. BMC Womens Health. 2025;25(1):1.
- Holmes MM. Why People Living with and Beyond Cancer Use the Internet. Integr Cancer Ther. 2019;18:15347354198298th30.
- The World Health Organization. Combatting misinformation online: The World Health Organization (WHO); [Available from: https://www.who.int/teams/digital-health-and-innovation/digital-channels/combatting-misinformation-online