Majority of “eco-influencer" TikToks contain contradictory medical information
Analyzed videos labeled with specific hashtags centered on “natural” healing and “holistic” health were incorrect over half the time
DENVER — A majority of medical and parenting videos being shared on TikTok by non-medical professionals contained misinformation, according to research presented during the American Academy of Pediatrics 2025 National Conference & Exhibition at the Colorado Convention Center from Sept. 26-30.
Researchers centered on the “eco-influencer” movement, which emphasizes natural living, holistic health, and other alternative medical and parenting methods. The research, titled " The Rise of ‘Eco-Influencers’ and Misinformation on Child Health,” examined top TikTok videos with hashtags such as #naturalparenting, #antivaccine, #holistichealth, and #alternativehealing.
Data showed that of the 120 videos examined, 61% contradicted established pediatric health guidelines. These videos, which often promote vaccine hesitancy and unproven natural remedies, were mostly (80%) created by self-identified parents and influencers rather than healthcare professionals.
Research author Maria A Canas-Galvis, MD, of East Carolina University Health Medical Center, said the most common themes presented in these videos were vaccine hesitancy, natural remedies for illness, rejection of conventional pediatric care, and breastfeeding and infant nutrition myths.
Researchers also noted how popular this genre of video was on TikTok, with ill-informed videos pulling over 2.7 times the viewership than those with accurate information.
“As pediatricians, we’re seeing the effects of online misinformation firsthand. This study shows how quickly false health claims can spread on social media and how important it is for us to engage with families and help them navigate what they’re seeing online,” Canas-Galvis said.
Researchers stressed the need for pediatricians to be aware of these harmful trends spreading online to be able to help guide families to be able to make safe, science-based decisions.
The authors did not receive financial support for this research.
Study author Dr. Canas-Galvis is scheduled to present her research, which is below, from 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m. MDT on Monday, Sept. 29, in the Colorado Convention Center, Four Seasons Ballroom 1 & 2. To request an interview with the authors, contact Dr. Canas-Galvis at canasgalvism24@ecu.edu .
Please note: only the abstract is being presented at the meeting. In some cases, the researcher may have more data available to share with media, or may be preparing a longer article for submission to a journal.
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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. For more information, visit www.aap.org. Reporters can access the meeting program and other relevant meeting information through the AAP meeting website at http://www.aapexperience.org/
Program Name: 2025 Call for Abstracts
Submission Type: Section on Epidemiology, Public Health, and Evidence
Abstract Title: The Rise of “Eco-Influencers” and Misinformation on Child Health
Maria Canas-Galvis
Greenville, NC, United States
Social media platforms such as TikTok have become influential sources of health information, particularly among parents seeking guidance on child-rearing practices. A growing trend of “eco-influencers” promotes natural parenting approaches, including alternative medicine, vaccine hesitancy, and home remedies that may pose risks to children’s health. While some content provides evidence-based guidance, misinformation regarding pediatric health can contribute to vaccine refusal, delays in seeking medical care, and the use of unproven treatments. This study examines the portrayal of natural parenting and alternative medicine content on TikTok to inform about emerging trends that may influence parental decision-making.
The top TikTok videos labeled with #naturalparenting, #antivaccine, #holistichealth, and #alternativehealing were analyzed (n=200). Data collected included: (1) creator gender; (2) video creator identity (parent, influencer, healthcare professional, anonymous); (3) health topics discussed; (4) presence of medical misinformation; and (5) engagement metrics (views, likes, shares). Misinformation was defined as content contradicting established medical guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Descriptive analysis was conducted in R.
A total of 120 videos (45,782,103 views) met inclusion criteria. The majority of creators were self-identified parents (48%, n=58), followed by influencers (32%, n=38), healthcare professionals (12%, n=14), and anonymous accounts (8%, n=10). The most common topics included vaccine hesitancy (36%, n=43), natural remedies for illness (29%, n=35), breastfeeding and infant nutrition myths (18%, n=22), and rejection of conventional pediatric care (17%, n=20). Misinformation was present in 61% (n=73) of videos, with common claims including vaccine toxicity, herbal treatments replacing antibiotics, and “natural immunity” as superior to vaccination. Videos with misinformation had significantly higher engagement (average 583,000 views) compared to evidence-based content (average 214,000 views).
Findings highlight the significant role of social media in shaping parental health beliefs, with a high prevalence of misinformation within the natural parenting and alternative medicine space. The greater engagement with misinformation underscores the challenges pediatricians face in combating false narratives. Given the potential risks of medical misinformation, pediatricians should proactively address these concerns in clinical settings and advocate for improved content moderation on social media platforms. Future research should explore effective strategies for countering health misinformation and promoting digital health literacy among parents. https://www.abstractscorecard.com/
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
Majority of “Eco-Influencer" TikToks Contain Contradictory Medical Information
Article Publication Date
26-Sep-2025
Social media challenge: Encouraging adolescents to engage in dangerous over-the-counter drug use
The trend began on TikTok in 2020 but has since expanded to other social media platforms
DENVER — Adolescents and young adults are misusing common over-the-counter antihistamines, putting them at risk of severe health outcomes including heart arrythmias, seizures or death, according to research presented during the American Academy of Pediatrics 2025 National Conference & Exhibition at the Colorado Convention Center from Sept. 26-30.
Noelia Swymeler, study author and pediatric resident physician at the University of Oklahoma at Tulsa School of Community Medicine, said trends such as the “Benadryl Challenge” circulating on social media are fueling the rise in these dangerous activities.
Her abstract, “Toxic Trends: The Hallucinatory Appeal of the TikTok Benadryl Challenge,” states that the 2020 TikTok challenge encouraged viewers to ingest high doses of over-the-counter allergy medicine containing diphenhydramine, which has sedating effects. Teens fight the drowsiness the medication causes in order to experience a high and hallucinations.
“The fact that we continue to see spikes in harmful diphenhydramine use years after the challenge first went viral shows just how powerful and dangerous social media trends can be,” Swymeler said.
Diphenhydramine is a first-generation antihistamine that, when misused, can cause severe toxicity, including arrhythmias, seizures, coma, and death.
Research authors urge parents, healthcare professionals, and social media companies to be on the alert for dangerous video challenges because the information remains accessible online long after their initiation. Authors advise families to ensure medications are safely stored away to prevent misuse.
“This research highlights the need for better education, stronger safeguards, and continued awareness to prevent teens from being harmed by medications they can easily find in their own homes,” Swymeler said.
The authors did not receive financial support for this research.
Study author Noelia Swymeler is scheduled to present her research, which is below, from 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. MDT on Sunday, Sept. 28 in the Colorado Convention Center, Four Seasons Ballroom 1 & 2. To request an interview with the authors, contact Bonnie Rucker at brucker@ou.edu.
In addition, Ms. Swymeler will be among highlighted abstract authors who will give a brief presentation and be available for interviews during a press conference from noon-1:30 p.m. MDT Saturday, Sept. 27, in the National Conference Press Room, CCC 705/707. During the meeting, you may reach AAP media relations staff at 303-228-8338.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. For more information, visit www.aap.org. Reporters can access the meeting program and other relevant meeting information through the AAP meeting website at http://www.aapexperience.org/
Program Name: 2025 Call for Abstracts
Submission Type: Council on Adolescents and Young Adults
Abstract Title: Toxic Trends: The Hallucinatory Appeal of the TikTok Benadryl Challenge
Noelia Swymeler
Tulsa, OK, United States
The "Benadryl Challenge" is a dangerous social media trend promoted by adolescents and young adults that emerged on TikTok in 2020, encouraging individuals to ingest over 300mg of diphenhydramine to induce hallucinations or get “high.” Diphenhydramine, a first-generation antihistamine with anticholinergic properties, is widely available over the counter and, when misused, can cause severe toxicity, including arrhythmias, seizures, coma, and death. Although gaining attention in 2020, the challenge resurfaced in 2023, with case reports continuing despite efforts to eliminate the trend, highlighting its ongoing impact. We hypothesized that this social media trend would increase the number of diphenhydramine-related adverse event reports to the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS).
A retrospective study was conducted using diphenhydramine-related adverse event reports in individuals 10-25 years of age from January 2013 to December 2024 from FAERS. Reports were pulled from FAERS using all single ingredient Benadryl and diphenhydramine product names. Reports were removed if they were duplicates, occurred outside the US, listed additional suspected ingredients, or had reasons for use inconsistent with the study objective. May 2020 marked the challenge’s emergence with the first reported challenge-related hospitalization. We utilized data from January 2013 to April 2020 to forecast trends in reports via Auto Regressive Integrative Moving Average (ARIMA) modeling for May 2020 through December 2024 to determine if the “Benadryl Challenge” had a significant impact on adverse event reports to the FDA. Model performance was assessed via RMSE, MASE, and ACF1.
A total of 413 reports met study inclusion criteria. The number of reports across years varied with 2013 and 2016 having the lowest number of reports (n=7) and 2023 having the highest (n=73) followed by 2020 (n=62; Figure 1). From January 2013 to April 2020, monthly reports ranged from 0 to 16. The forecasted monthly report counts from May 2020 to December 2024 ranged from 2.13 to 6.63 (Figure 2, RMSE=2.85, MASE=.88, ACF1=.045). Reports exceeded forecasted amounts several times after April 2020 including July 2020, December 2020, July 2021, February 2023, May 2023, January 2024, and June 2024.
While the increase in diphenhydramine-related adverse event reports may not be directly attributed to the "Benadryl Challenge," the continued rise in cases among adolescents and young adults underscores a concerning national trend warranting healthcare provider attention. Peaks in reporting coincided with the challenge’s emergence, while declines may have resulted from public health advisories or other factors, requiring further analysis. These findings highlight the need for continued vigilance among healthcare providers, public health officials, and policymakers to address the risks of over-the-counter medication misuse, particularly in the context of evolving social media trends. Strengthening preventive strategies, including education and monitoring, may help mitigate future harm.
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Figure 1. Number of diphenhydramine-related adverse event reports across years
Trends in the frequency of diphenhydramine-related adverse event reports using FAERS from January 2013 to December 2024, with the introduction of the “Benadryl Challenge” being in May 2020.
Figure 2. Comparison of projected and actual adverse event reports including diphenhydramine in the United States from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2024
The red solid line represents projected diphenhydramine-related adverse event reports starting with the emergence of the “Benadryl Challenge" in May 2020 to December 2024 using ARIMA modeling while the dotted line represents the upper 95% confidence interval. The blue line represents actual diphenhydramine-related adverse event reports from January 2013 to December 2024.
Please note: only the abstract is being presented at the meeting. In some cases, the researcher may have more data available to share with media, or may be preparing a longer article for submission to a journal.
# # #
The trend began on TikTok in 2020 but has since expanded to other social media platforms
DENVER — Adolescents and young adults are misusing common over-the-counter antihistamines, putting them at risk of severe health outcomes including heart arrythmias, seizures or death, according to research presented during the American Academy of Pediatrics 2025 National Conference & Exhibition at the Colorado Convention Center from Sept. 26-30.
Noelia Swymeler, study author and pediatric resident physician at the University of Oklahoma at Tulsa School of Community Medicine, said trends such as the “Benadryl Challenge” circulating on social media are fueling the rise in these dangerous activities.
Her abstract, “Toxic Trends: The Hallucinatory Appeal of the TikTok Benadryl Challenge,” states that the 2020 TikTok challenge encouraged viewers to ingest high doses of over-the-counter allergy medicine containing diphenhydramine, which has sedating effects. Teens fight the drowsiness the medication causes in order to experience a high and hallucinations.
“The fact that we continue to see spikes in harmful diphenhydramine use years after the challenge first went viral shows just how powerful and dangerous social media trends can be,” Swymeler said.
Diphenhydramine is a first-generation antihistamine that, when misused, can cause severe toxicity, including arrhythmias, seizures, coma, and death.
Research authors urge parents, healthcare professionals, and social media companies to be on the alert for dangerous video challenges because the information remains accessible online long after their initiation. Authors advise families to ensure medications are safely stored away to prevent misuse.
“This research highlights the need for better education, stronger safeguards, and continued awareness to prevent teens from being harmed by medications they can easily find in their own homes,” Swymeler said.
The authors did not receive financial support for this research.
Study author Noelia Swymeler is scheduled to present her research, which is below, from 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. MDT on Sunday, Sept. 28 in the Colorado Convention Center, Four Seasons Ballroom 1 & 2. To request an interview with the authors, contact Bonnie Rucker at brucker@ou.edu.
In addition, Ms. Swymeler will be among highlighted abstract authors who will give a brief presentation and be available for interviews during a press conference from noon-1:30 p.m. MDT Saturday, Sept. 27, in the National Conference Press Room, CCC 705/707. During the meeting, you may reach AAP media relations staff at 303-228-8338.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. For more information, visit www.aap.org. Reporters can access the meeting program and other relevant meeting information through the AAP meeting website at http://www.aapexperience.org/
Program Name: 2025 Call for Abstracts
Submission Type: Council on Adolescents and Young Adults
Abstract Title: Toxic Trends: The Hallucinatory Appeal of the TikTok Benadryl Challenge
Noelia Swymeler
Tulsa, OK, United States
The "Benadryl Challenge" is a dangerous social media trend promoted by adolescents and young adults that emerged on TikTok in 2020, encouraging individuals to ingest over 300mg of diphenhydramine to induce hallucinations or get “high.” Diphenhydramine, a first-generation antihistamine with anticholinergic properties, is widely available over the counter and, when misused, can cause severe toxicity, including arrhythmias, seizures, coma, and death. Although gaining attention in 2020, the challenge resurfaced in 2023, with case reports continuing despite efforts to eliminate the trend, highlighting its ongoing impact. We hypothesized that this social media trend would increase the number of diphenhydramine-related adverse event reports to the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS).
A retrospective study was conducted using diphenhydramine-related adverse event reports in individuals 10-25 years of age from January 2013 to December 2024 from FAERS. Reports were pulled from FAERS using all single ingredient Benadryl and diphenhydramine product names. Reports were removed if they were duplicates, occurred outside the US, listed additional suspected ingredients, or had reasons for use inconsistent with the study objective. May 2020 marked the challenge’s emergence with the first reported challenge-related hospitalization. We utilized data from January 2013 to April 2020 to forecast trends in reports via Auto Regressive Integrative Moving Average (ARIMA) modeling for May 2020 through December 2024 to determine if the “Benadryl Challenge” had a significant impact on adverse event reports to the FDA. Model performance was assessed via RMSE, MASE, and ACF1.
A total of 413 reports met study inclusion criteria. The number of reports across years varied with 2013 and 2016 having the lowest number of reports (n=7) and 2023 having the highest (n=73) followed by 2020 (n=62; Figure 1). From January 2013 to April 2020, monthly reports ranged from 0 to 16. The forecasted monthly report counts from May 2020 to December 2024 ranged from 2.13 to 6.63 (Figure 2, RMSE=2.85, MASE=.88, ACF1=.045). Reports exceeded forecasted amounts several times after April 2020 including July 2020, December 2020, July 2021, February 2023, May 2023, January 2024, and June 2024.
While the increase in diphenhydramine-related adverse event reports may not be directly attributed to the "Benadryl Challenge," the continued rise in cases among adolescents and young adults underscores a concerning national trend warranting healthcare provider attention. Peaks in reporting coincided with the challenge’s emergence, while declines may have resulted from public health advisories or other factors, requiring further analysis. These findings highlight the need for continued vigilance among healthcare providers, public health officials, and policymakers to address the risks of over-the-counter medication misuse, particularly in the context of evolving social media trends. Strengthening preventive strategies, including education and monitoring, may help mitigate future harm.
##
Figure 1. Number of diphenhydramine-related adverse event reports across years
Trends in the frequency of diphenhydramine-related adverse event reports using FAERS from January 2013 to December 2024, with the introduction of the “Benadryl Challenge” being in May 2020.
Figure 2. Comparison of projected and actual adverse event reports including diphenhydramine in the United States from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2024
The red solid line represents projected diphenhydramine-related adverse event reports starting with the emergence of the “Benadryl Challenge" in May 2020 to December 2024 using ARIMA modeling while the dotted line represents the upper 95% confidence interval. The blue line represents actual diphenhydramine-related adverse event reports from January 2013 to December 2024.
Please note: only the abstract is being presented at the meeting. In some cases, the researcher may have more data available to share with media, or may be preparing a longer article for submission to a journal.
# # #
Subject of Research
People
People
Article Title
Social Media Challenge: Encouraging Adolescents to Engage in Dangerous Over-the-Counter Drug Use
Social Media Challenge: Encouraging Adolescents to Engage in Dangerous Over-the-Counter Drug Use
Article Publication Date
26-Sep-2025
26-Sep-2025
Emergency calls for pediatric opioid exposure on rise: New research
Calls increased over double for pre-teens aged 11-13, causing concern among health officials.
DENVER — Years after the opioid epidemic began in the mid-1990s, emergency medical services are seeing increases in emergency calls for pre-teens and adolescents, according to research presented during the American Academy of Pediatrics 2025 National Conference & Exhibition at the Colorado Convention Center from Sept. 26-30.
The research, “EMS Calls for Pediatric Patients Ages 11-18 years with Opioid Exposures using NEMSIS data,” examined calls for services due to suspected pediatric opioid exposure reported to the National Emergency Medical Services Information System, which tracks emergency medical service data from across the United States. Authors reviewed the data from 2019 through 2023, breaking it down into two categories: middle school aged children and high school aged teens.
Opioid exposure calls increased nationally each year of the study for middle-school aged children, rising from 255 calls in 2019 to 553 in 2023. Teenagers fared slightly better with drops in emergency opioid exposure calls after 2022.
Research author Sonia Lam, DO and pediatric emergency medicine fellow, said the new opioid exposure trends are causing concern among health professionals.
“Opioid exposures in middle- and-high school aged students are a growing public health concern. The medical community and legislative authorities have an opportunity and obligation to enact policies to decrease risk to these vulnerable kids,” Dr. Lam said.
Dr. Lam said that demographics varied by group, with females outnumbering males in the middle school age group, while the reverse pattern was true for the older group. Younger children also tend to present with significantly higher levels of acuity compared to older children
Authors suggest that targeted interventions for prevention of drug use disorders in children should be informed by how use varies with children’s age and sex.
The authors did not receive financial support for this research.
Dr. Lam is scheduled to present the research, which is below, from 2:15 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. MDT on Friday, Sept. 26, in the Colorado Convention Center, Meeting Room 108/110/112. To request an interview with the authors, contact Brianna Mortensen at BMortensen@salud.unm.edu.
In addition, Dr. Lam will be among highlighted abstract authors who will give a brief presentation and be available for interviews during a press conference from noon-1:30 p.m. MDT Saturday, Sept. 27, in the National Conference Press Room, CCC 705/707. During the meeting, you may reach AAP media relations staff at 303-228-8338.
Please note: only the abstract is being presented at the meeting. In some cases, the researcher may have more data available to share with media, or may be preparing a longer article for submission to a journal.
# # #
The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. For more information, visit www.aap.org. Reporters can access the meeting program and other relevant meeting information through the AAP meeting website at http://www.aapexperience.org/
Program Name: 2025 Call for Abstracts
Submission Type: Section on Emergency Medicine
Abstract Title: EMS Calls for Pediatric Patients Ages 11-18 years with Opioid Exposures using NEMSIS data
Sonia Lam
The opioid crisis has long been an issue nationwide with the use of prescription opioids and heroin for pain management and recreational use. Poisoning, including drug overdose, is now the 3rd leading cause of death in U.S. children ages 1 to 19 years, after firearm injury and motor vehicle crashes. The purpose of this study is to compare the trend of opioid exposures among children in two age groups: pre-teenage, and teenage.
This retrospective study uses the National Emergency Medical Services Information System (NEMSIS) data set from the years 2019 to 2023. NEMSIS is a national system used to collect, store and share EMS data. To identify opioid exposures, the NEMSIS database includes ICD-10 codes for chief complaint (subsets of external cause codes F11 and T40) and whether naloxone was administered. Age groups were categorized as middle school (11-13 years) and high school (14–18 years). The two groups were compared for trends over time, sex ratio, and acuity level (lower acuity, emergent, critical, or deceased). Chi-square analysis compared proportions, and linear regression is used for trend analysis.
EMS calls for opioid exposure increased every year among 11–13-year-olds, from 257 in 2019 to 560 in 2023. Among 14–18-year-olds, numbers increased from 2019 (3,904) through 2022 (7,392), then decreased (6,960). In Figure 1, we present the proportion of overall EMS calls for each age group for opioid related complaints based on number of NEMSIS calls increased each year. The majority of patients in the middle school group were female (61.1%), while in the high school group, females were a minority of patients (40.6%) (p=0.001). Acuity level also varied by age group (p=0.001). In five years, there were acuity data for 1,429 calls in the middle school group and 21,340 in the high school group. A higher proportion of the middle school group presented as critical (24.5%) than the older age group (15.7%) (p=0.001) (Figure 2).
Patterns of EMS calls for middle school and high school children vary significantly. Younger children have a more persistent pattern of increasing calls over time, they are disproportionately female, and they are more likely to present with critical acuity than older children. These differences suggest targeted interventions for prevention and treatment of drug use disorders in children.
Figure 1. Rate of opioid calls per total number of calls by age group and year, NEMSIS data, 2019-2023. To compare the rate of change over time between the two age groups on one graph, we used the number of total NEMSIS calls for all reasons for each age group by year to calculate an annual rate by age group and year.
Figure 2: Acuity level on EMS Presentation.
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
Emergency Calls for Pediatric Opioid Exposure on Rise: New Research
Article Publication Date
26-Sep-2025
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