Content area
Abstract
Purpose
As a growing video-sharing platform with massive reach, TikTok is shaping food culture through the popular hashtag #healthyrecipes. TikTok videos have the ability to influence health attitudes and behaviors, yet little is known about what characterizes the healthy food landscape on TikTok. This study describes the healthy food landscape on TikTok by addressing the research question: How do the most popular healthy recipe videos on TikTok portray healthy food?
Methods
A multi-phase thematic analysis was conducted among the most liked videos on TikTok containing the hashtag #healthyrecipes using inductive coding methods. The top 150 videos were cataloged and downloaded over 3 consecutive days in early November 2021. An initial review excluded 40 videos, which were non-English language, presented technical issues, or shared identical messages from the same creator. Video visuals, audio, captions, and hashtags were included in the final dataset (n=110). The code frame was iteratively developed by a collaborative team of researchers, and each video was independently coded by two researchers employing Dedoose software. Codes were consolidated into themes and sub-themes to address the primary research question.
Results
The healthy food landscape on TikTok converged around three central themes and one sub-theme: (1) Practical Skills, (2) Performative Wellness, (2a) Sensory and Exciting, and (3) Weight Normative. This analysis reveals that the most popular TikTok creators characterize healthy food as some combination of utilizing practical skills to maintain a home cooking routine, incorporating functional or plant-based foods, delivering on exciting sensory experiences, and permissible based on specific health parameters.
Conclusion
TikTok provides a platform for examining broader perceptions of health and healthy food. The themes uncovered present an opportunity for nutrition educators to take a critical approach in understanding how social media platforms amplify polarizing ideals of wellness and shape health messaging. Given the highly individualized nature of the TikTok algorithm and its unique ability to disseminate ideas in rapid fashion, further research is needed to understand the role of nutrition educators on social media and potential public health implications of popular nutrition messaging, particularly among pediatric populations.
