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"Are you kidding me?" Surgeon declares war on fake doctors on Instagram

"Are you kidding me?" Surgeon declares war on fake doctors on Instagram
Doubtful Medfluencers
glomex (left) / Instagram.com/jasper_iske (right)

Heart surgeon Dr. Jasper Iske has had enough: On Instagram and TikTok, self-proclaimed health gurus in white coats are posing as dubious products with empty promises. Now he's striking back and exposing medfluencers who are more about marketing than medicine.

Medfluencers are rapidly gaining influence in the digital health world. They offer tips on sleep, nutrition, and stress, often accompanied by discount codes and product recommendations. The combination of doctor image and influencer charm is effective. But how much science is behind it?

Medfluencers, a portmanteau of "medicine" and "influencer," pose as experts, even though they often aren't. They disseminate rapid-fire health advice on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube. The line between education and advertising is blurring.

Galileo reporter Nadine Hadad tests two popular supplements: one for stress relief, one for dental health. Together with heart surgeon Dr. Jasper Iske from Berlin's Charité hospital, she examined the ingredients. The result: no proven effectiveness, no serious studies.

Iske is someone who speaks plainly. On his Instagram channel, he doesn't mince words when it comes to medical misinformation. His goal: to expose questionable advertising and ground medical content in facts. Homeopathy in intensive care and emergency medicine particularly irritates him. Medfluencers with superficial knowledge? For him, this isn't trivial, but a health risk. Dr. Iske distinguishes between three groups of medfluencers: true professionals, aspiring physicians, and those with no training at all. The latter, in particular, jeopardize trust in medical expertise. They are often unrecognizable to laypeople.

Marketing expert Harald Zwickhardt warns against the so-called authority heuristic : For many, the white coat is enough to gain trust. This quickly turns followers into customers – without medical advice, without informed decisions.

For their research, the Galileo team wanted to speak with several medfluencers. Many canceled – some shortly before the scheduled appointment. Apparently, the relationship between health education and sales isn't easy to define. Consumers should critically examine medfluencer content. For serious health questions, the first step should not be online, but rather a doctor's office.

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