Can you believe all the diet advice you see on social media?

There’s clearly a problem with the current dialog about nutrition. A huge number of books, blogs and shows are each trying to make the case for a specific kind of diet, leaving us in unending confusion. These conflicting nutritional advice can make us think that the scientific community is lost and confused when it comes to diet and nutrition, but that’s absolutely not the case.

There’s indeed a clear global consensus from the world’s nutrition scientists and experts about what constitutes a healthy diet. A diet high in plant foods (beans, vegetables, nuts, fruits, whole grains) and low in processed foods is unequivocally best for health and longevity. Another truth that is agreed upon is that over 80% of chronic disease and premature death could be prevented by following this healthy dietary pattern, getting regular physical activity, and not smoking.

While these facts are all very clear, they don’t make attention-grabbing headlines. To get people to click, some media don’t hesitate to use misleading headlines, some of which can even be purposefully deceptive.

That’s why you should always be careful not to rely on one person’s opinion, and you should take social media influencers’ advice with a grain of salt. Indeed, a study conducted by a team at University of Glasgow revealed that many of them presented opinion as fact and most of them didn’t meet accepted scientifically and medically-approved criteria. Any influencer can post whatever they like and their followers will believe it.

Since it’s nearly impossible to get bloggers and influencers to conform to standards, the best tactic is to become immunized not just from today’s fad diets, but also from tomorrow’s fat diets. You should learn to identify nutritious foods and - most importantly - learn how to turn them into delicious dishes.

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