{"id":323688,"date":"2026-03-05T19:57:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T19:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/323688\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T19:57:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T19:57:15","slug":"influencers-promoting-carnivore-diet-spreading-dangerous-misinformation-doctor-says-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/323688\/","title":{"rendered":"Influencers promoting carnivore diet spreading dangerous misinformation, doctor says \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The rise of social media<\/a> influencers promoting the carnivore diet with its emphasis on eating as much beef, butter and bacon as you want is a dangerous example of dietary misinformation, according to a medical doctor in Cork University Hospital<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all part of the manosphere political movement and Make America Healthy Again that sees red meat as masculine,\u201d said Dr Gary McGowan. <\/p>\n

McGowan, who has 55,000 followers on Instagram<\/a>, actively counters such claims. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis carnivore diet can dramatically increase LDL cholesterol to three to five times the normal range for a healthy adult. It goes against over 50 years of research on the links between saturated fat and heart disease,\u201d said McGowan, who has a master\u2019s degree in preventative cardiology.<\/p>\n

The marketing of electrolyte drinks – which can have three times the recommended daily intake of salt – to the general population is another concern. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about convincing people they need more salt but more salt will lead to an increase in high blood pressure in a population which already has high rates,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cElectrolyte drinks are marketed at people to stay hydrated and boost their cognition but they are only for certain groups such as endurance athletes or those working outdoors in hot countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"InfluencersInfluencers pushing high-fat, meat-only diets and electrolyte drinks spreading nutritional misinformation, conference told. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Influencers and nutrition misinformation: \u2018There\u2019s no accountability here, and it\u2019s a massive problem\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Speaking about ways to counter diet misinformation at a Food Safety Authority of Ireland<\/a> (FSAI) event in Dublin on Thursday, McGowan said that it\u2019s important to clarify the person\u2019s viewpoint, ideally using their own words and respond clearly one point at a time. <\/p>\n

\u201cDebate is not just about knowledge, it\u2019s about how you approach the argument,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

He said it\u2019s very easy for the public to be misled by social media influencers on nutritional advice. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe untrained eye doesn\u2019t know how to interpret nutritional evidence and if you ask AI<\/a> to give you a summary of why saturated fat does not increase the risk of heart disease or why saturated fat does increase the risk of heart disease, you won\u2019t be able to tell which is correct,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Greg Dempsey, the CEO of the FSAI said the digital media shapes opinion long before the experts can reach them. \u201cWe are challenged by other actors who don\u2019t have the same rigour, transparency and objective to protect public health,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

This leads to unnecessary fear and confusion, unsafe food practices, viral food consumption challenges and the promotion of restrictive diets, he said. <\/p>\n

Journalist and entrepreneur Mark Little, who also spoke at the event, said 50 per cent of the content on the internet is now AI generated. \u201cMisinformation makes [some] people feel powerful. It is this secret knowledge that we have undervalued.\u201d <\/p>\n

According to Little, the single most effective way of countering disinformation is to \u2018pre-bunk\u2019 by preparing the top ten things you do and seeding that information into social media channels.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Rise of the \u2018fit-fluencer\u2019: \u2018We have people coming in with rashes because a TikTok said shampoo would clear their acne\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The rise of social media influencers promoting the carnivore diet with its emphasis on eating as much beef,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[343,74372,154156,163,9411,85,46,2460],"class_list":["post-323688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-cork-university-hospital","tag-food-safety-authority-of-ireland","tag-health","tag-health-wellness","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-social-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}