Which Health and Wellness Influencers Talk About Medical Topics? Mostly Healthcare Professionals

About this research This study looks at the content posted by health and wellness influencers – individuals with large audiences online who provide information about health and wellness, largely on social media. It builds on our previous study 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. Why did we do this? Medical professionals remain the most common source of health information among U.S. adults. But many get information about their health from sources outside of the doctor’s 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. How did we do this? 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. We identified multiple health and wellness topics and grouped those topics into two broader categories: Healthy living: 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. Medical issues: 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’s or women’s health. For more information about the sample of health and wellness influencers and how we identified them, refer to the methodology of our first report. For more details about how we collected social media posts and analyzed the content of these posts, refer to the methodology of this report. Social media offer a source of health information for many Americans, and healthcare professionals have raised concerns 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. Influencers who aren’t health professionals rarely discuss medical topics like conditions, treatments Among health/wellness influencers who say they have each background, % of posts that mention each topic Note: Posts may discuss multiple health and wellness topics. Some topics and professions analyzed in this study are not shown. 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.“What Do Health and Wellness Influencers Post About?” PEW RESEARCH CENTER Influencers who aren’t health professionals rarely discuss medical topics like conditions, treatments Among health/wellness influencers who say they have each background, % of posts that mention each topic BackgroundTopicShareConventional medicineMedical condition30Conventional medicineProfessional medical treatments38Conventional medicineMental health6Conventional medicineNutrition13Conventional medicineAppearance22Conventional medicineFitness8Conventional medicineHealthy habits18Mental healthMedical condition25Mental healthProfessional medical treatments17Mental healthMental health35Mental healthNutrition3Mental healthAppearance1Mental healthFitness3Mental healthHealthy habits8Complementary, alternative and integrative healthMedical condition34Complementary, alternative and integrative healthProfessional medical treatments24Complementary, alternative and integrative healthMental health11Complementary, alternative and integrative healthNutrition21Complementary, alternative and integrative healthAppearance4Complementary, alternative and integrative healthFitness12Complementary, alternative and integrative healthHealthy habits23Allied healthMedical condition26Allied healthProfessional medical treatments25Allied healthMental health4Allied healthNutrition10Allied healthAppearance11Allied healthFitness24Allied healthHealthy habits20CoachMedical condition11CoachProfessional medical treatments6CoachMental health6CoachNutrition22CoachAppearance13CoachFitness43CoachHealthy habits26AthleteMedical condition7AthleteProfessional medical treatments4AthleteMental health2AthleteNutrition17AthleteAppearance11AthleteFitness50AthleteHealthy habits18No credentialsMedical condition12No credentialsProfessional medical treatments6No credentialsMental health5No credentialsNutrition20No credentialsAppearance16No credentialsFitness23No credentialsHealthy habits17Dietician/NutritionistMedical condition21Dietician/NutritionistProfessional medical treatments9Dietician/NutritionistMental health6Dietician/NutritionistNutrition52Dietician/NutritionistAppearance10Dietician/NutritionistFitness26Dietician/NutritionistHealthy habits33 Note: Posts may discuss multiple health and wellness topics. Some topics and professions analyzed in this study are not shown. 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.“What Do Health and Wellness Influencers Post About?” PEW RESEARCH CENTER Influencers who describe themselves as healthcare professionals tend to post much more often about topics like medical conditions, mental health or treatments requiring the supervision of a doctor. These topics are much rarer in the feeds of health and wellness influencers who do not claim a medical credential or background. Similarly, posts about nutrition most often come from self-described nutritionists while those about mental health are most prevalent in the feeds of those who cite a background in the field. And athletes and coaches tend to gravitate toward posts about fitness. Influencers who primarily point to their life history in their bios often share their own experiences with a medical condition. This group posts about medical conditions at about the same rate as conventional medical professionals. On the other hand, influencers who don’t describe an area of expertise tend to shy away from medical topics – but don’t avoid them entirely. Some 16% of health and wellness influencers do not describe any particular background or expertise in their site bios. For the most part, these influencers tend to focus on topics like nutrition, fitness or improving physical appearance. But around one-in-ten of their posts talk about medical conditions. Some topics are more widespread. For instance, developing and maintaining healthy wellness habits is a mainstay in the feeds of influencers from a variety of backgrounds. Which influencers warn of health harms and cite outside sources? Our analysis found that 11% of posts from health and wellness influencers warn of specific health harms, while 9% cite outside sources in their posts while making a health claim. Influencers who describe themselves as researchers are far and away the most likely to cite outside sources, doing so in 30% of their posts. Other groups that mention direct health harms in a relatively large share of their posts include those who describe themselves as: Complementary, integrative and alternative health professionals (22%) Researchers (21%) Conventional medical professionals (20%) These topics are less prevalent in the feeds of influencers who don’t list any credentials or who describe themselves as coaches or athletes. Both these topics appear in 7% or fewer of posts from these groups. How these influencers discuss men’s and women’s health For the most part, similar shares of men and women discuss the topics we measured in at least one post. But there are notable differences in the shares of each group who discuss men’s and women’s health specifically. Gendered health topics are the primary place where men and women influencers diverge % of health/wellness influencers who are men/women who ever post about … Note: Posts may discuss multiple health and wellness topics. 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.“What Do Health and Wellness Influencers Post About?” PEW RESEARCH CENTER Gendered health topics are the primary place where men and women influencers diverge % of health/wellness influencers who are men/women who ever post about … TopicMenWomenDiffWomen’s health3058-27Men’s health24717Longevity413011Mental health5058-8Personal appearance5866-8OTC medications or supplements6269-7Life experience7077-7Health policy27206Nutrition6470-6Fitness74704Healthy habits7984-4Medical conditions78772Medical treatments69681 Note: Posts may discuss multiple health and wellness topics. 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.“What Do Health and Wellness Influencers Post About?” PEW RESEARCH CENTER Women are nearly twice as likely as men to ever discuss women’s health in their posts, while roughly three times as many men as women ever mention men’s health. And notably, among influencers who are men, a larger share discusses women’s health (30%) than men’s health (24%). Menopause and perimenopause are common themes in posts about women’s health and from influencers who are women. About one-in-five posts that mention women’s health also include some discussion of menopause. Outside of these two topics, larger shares of men ever discuss longevity and life extension (41% of men vs. 30% of women). And a somewhat larger share of women ever discuss mental health (58% vs. 50%) or improving physical appearance (66% vs. 58%).