A previous Foodthink article, “Have Nutritionists Become Shills for Food Giants? Perspectives from Registered Nutritionists”, exposed how North American food corporations sponsor influencer nutritionists and industry organisations to sway public perception of food through misleading, quasi-scientific popularisation. Similar issues exist in China: health supplements and food advertisements are ubiquitous. How do nutritionists view these commercial partnerships? And what role should professionals play in a media environment where the wheat is so often mixed with the chaff? Below is a response from the author, Zheng Luyue, following interviews with various nutritionists.As the host of the podcast *Ba Jiu Bu Li Shi*, my business inbox is frequently filled with invitations to promote health supplements—mostly from niche domestic brands—and I have even been asked to endorse frozen food products. While there is a certain subtle satisfaction in being “appreciated”, for me, accepting supplement promotions would compromise my independence in providing nutritional education. Moreover, the communication cost of adding these brands on WeChat just to verify whether their products are actually safe and reliable is far too high. Consequently, I choose to protect my professional reputation and politely decline. I’ve even joked with friends: “I spend my podcast episodes discouraging people from buying trending supplements, yet brands still think I’m the right person to sell them?”● A commercial collaboration proposal sent to me by a nutritional supplement brand.
Although I have yet to accept any supplement promotion, in a free media market, brands can always find partners willing to compromise, and many leading nutritionists in the industry actively collaborate with commercial brands.
Should nutritionists really take on commercial promotions? Where is the line between commercial endorsement and scientific education? Are those nutritionists who stick to their principles actually a minority in the industry? With these questions in mind, I conducted a small survey among my nutritionist friends.
● Almost all nutritional and health supplements seek endorsements from a large number of doctors and nutritionists. Indeed, “Endorsed by a hundred nutritionists” has become a standard marketing line for some food companies. Image from the web.
I. Who Regulates Non-Compliant Commercial Conduct?
Before detailing the perspectives of the nutritionists, it is first necessary to clarify: who is responsible for overseeing the commercial conduct of nutritionists? In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) provide regulatory oversight. The former, as a federal government agency, monitors commercial behaviour, combats false advertising and improper marketing, and protects consumer rights. The latter is a national professional organisation representing practitioners—similar to the Chinese Medical Doctor Association—playing a vital role in professional certification, continuing education, and the establishment of industry standards.
In China, policy has consistently opposed professional physicians endorsing products. From the 2022 crackdown on “medical personnel using their positions to livestream for sales” to the 2024 effort to “increase supervision over medical-related livestreaming, information content, and dissemination order”, the National Health Commission and 13 other ministries have been closely monitoring pseudo-science in the health and medical sectors.
While platforms help govern illegal traffic diversion, self-media creators have also learned to self-censor, actively avoiding prohibited words found in the *Advertising Law*, such as “the most”, “the best”, “cure”, and “safe”. China’s *Advertising Law* explicitly stipulates:
Advertisements for medical services, drugs, medical devices, and health foods must not contain “assertions or guarantees regarding efficacy or safety” or “recommendations and testimonials from celebrity endorsers”. Radio stations, television stations, newspapers, audio-visual publishers, and internet information service providers must not publish medical, drug, medical device, or health food advertisements disguised as introductions to health or wellness knowledge.Despite the tightening of legal and industry regulations, a grey area remains in the monetisation of health knowledge. Current regulations do not clearly distinguish between “commercial promotion” and “advertising”, allowing health supplements to evade supervision in livestreams by masking marketing as “scientific education”. Meanwhile, it is generally accepted in the industry that the “bottom line” is that physicians must not use their profession, position, or hospital name—nor hospital platforms—to sell products. However, this red line assumes the practitioner is still within the hospital system. When health education creators leave the constraints of such institutions, ethical boundaries become blurred. For example, if a doctor appears in a livestream but does not evaluate the product, does that constitute an endorsement? If a dermatologist promotes health supplements, does that constitute a professional overstep? These questions lack clear definitions.
In comparison, the medical community has had more extensive discussions on conflicts of interest and more mature regulations. Since the Chinese Registered Nutritionist system began in 2017, there has been a lack of ethical guidelines regarding commercial collaborations and endorsements. This makes the decision to accept ads an easy slide into a purely economic choice. When conflict of interest is not discussed and constraints are absent, the prevention of “pseudo-science” depends entirely on individual conscience.
More problematic is that the title of “Nutritionist” itself lacks a clear public understanding. From “Registered Nutritionist” and “Nutrition Technician” to “Public Nutritionist” and “Nutrition Instructor”, there are numerous titles with wildly varying professional thresholds. Some internationally certified nutritionists have even been exposed as holding fake certificates.
● A dizzying array of “nutritionist” professional certificates and titles found online. Although the “Registered Nutritionist” qualification holds the highest prestige in China, the general public cannot tell who is actually reliable.Admittedly, the US Registered Dietitian (RD) credential I hold places greater emphasis on a candidate’s theoretical knowledge and practical experience (requiring a master’s degree as a starting point, over 1,000 hours of internship, and continuing education credits), and it explicitly includes the “disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest” in its code of ethics. Even so, unethical commercial endorsements still exist within this group. This serves as a reminder: without the hard constraints of the law, even the best guidelines can become mere lip service; in the face of profit, professional boundaries are often more fragile than one might imagine.
II. The Pro Side: Why Shouldn’t Nutritionists Take Ads?
Should nutritionists engage in commercial collaborations? There are starkly different views within the profession. Whether from the perspective of the individual or the industry, accepting commercial offers can have positive effects. On one hand, commercial partnerships help nutritionists make a living; on the other, they can use social media platforms to raise public awareness of the profession and increase the nutritionist’s sense of professional value.
For instance, a registered nutritionist working in a hospital admitted:
“If I were still back in university, I would have found such behaviour (taking ads and making comments intended to lead consumers) utterly contemptible. But now that I’m in the workforce, being a nutritionist is a role with very poor value for money. Driven by the pressure to survive, while I don’t support such behaviour, I completely understand it. Only by giving this industry more attention and respect, and by increasing salary levels, can those with formal training stay true to their original intentions.”Another registered nutritionist, who once vetted sponsored content for a company, remarked:“I truly feel that commercial sponsorship is a good thing, precisely because it’s a matter of mutual selection. Not all nutritionists are willing or able to do this… Those who do collaborate commercially will check the scripts with us (the content team). If they feel they cannot say a certain phrase, they will simply remove it… Personally, I think it’s quite great, mainly because I can’t make that kind of money myself [laughs]. It’s not that I think those using commercial ‘sales pitches’ are acting against their conscience… I’m just too sensitive; I couldn’t be an influencer… so I’m quite envious, or rather, I admire those who have the gift of the gab and can say things that are ‘simultaneously dangerous, alluring, and just on the right side of the line’. Furthermore, I believe that partnering with companies, especially big brands, can help promote the profession of nutritionists.”At the same time, I found that nutritionists who are active on social media platforms have a more positive attitude toward commercial collaborations. In our discussions, they also emphasised the benefits to the public, such as helping consumers with product selection.
III. The Con Side: Professionalism Lost to Commercial Logic
Whether one supports this or not is often not just a difference in attitude, but a difference in environment. Nutritionists who do not rely on traffic monetisation are more inclined to uphold professional integrity.One registered nutritionist, drawing on their experience as a content creator, lamented the difficulty of balancing traffic, sponsorships, and professionalism:“When I first started working to build a following, I set a rule for myself: I wouldn’t take any ads for dietary supplements or any ads that didn’t align with my nutritional philosophy. Although I’ve had some very pleasant collaborations, most of the invitations were for products teetering on the edge of what is actually healthy, such as probiotics or so-called ‘healthy drinks’. There’s often a lot of back-and-forth during the commercial process; the points a merchant wants to push are often exactly the things that make me feel uneasy and want to avoid in the promotional copy. After I started working full-time, I had less and less time, and I began to reflect: does this kind of commercial promotion bring me more happiness, or just more inner conflict and mental drain? Now, I focus more on food-related content that doesn’t require me to provide specific professional endorsement as a nutritionist… Even if there are products or viewpoints that have so-called research to back them up, if I don’t personally buy into them, I find it painful to have to provide a nutritionist’s endorsement.”Overall, in a commodified market environment, nutritionists who choose the path of social media face more severe survival pressures and professional ethical challenges. Much like doctors who choose livestreaming sales, many nutritionists do not fail to understand the value of sticking to their principles; rather, their professional growth opportunities are limited and they face economic pressures. This is especially true for practitioners from non-tier-1 cities where employment opportunities are scarcer, making commercial collaborations a highly tempting option to resolve income issues.● A trending topic for nutritionists on social media: “How nutritionists can monetise through social media”. Source: Internet.And it is precisely through the vulnerabilities of this professional ecosystem—unclear industry standards, declining public trust, and imbalanced income structures—that capital continues to expand its influence.
IV. In the Information Cocoon, Who Should We Trust?
Regardless of the choices nutritionists make, there is no doubt that ‘pseudo-science’ created for commercial promotion is currently rampant across the internet. A friend and Registered Dietitian, after reading an article about companies bribing nutritionists, lamented:
“Information streams driven by algorithms often trap people in information cocoons, where the content they encounter is both limited and heavily biased. If this content is further reinforced by so-called ‘experts’, the consumer’s range of choice is not only constricted but can even be manipulated.”I often feel a similar sense of helplessness in my own life. My family members, who could simply ask me—a genuine Registered Dietitian—are often drawn to ‘wellness videos’ or ‘influencer doctor recommendations’. Even when I explain things repeatedly, it is difficult to fully offset the influence of that pseudo-science. Another US-registered dietitian active on social media, Park Jingxuan, put it more bluntly:
“As a dietitian, much of my work involves ‘debunking’. Many patients come to me with headlines they’ve seen online and ask if they’re true; usually, these are just clickbait titles that take things out of context.”In the comments section of an article about doctors doing live-streaming sales, I once read a scathing remark:“Qualified doctors aren’t allowed to do live-streaming sales; they’re told to get off the air. Yet, we let these social hustlers don doctor’s coats to swindle people. Why let fake doctors flood the live-streams?”Though the tone was aggressive, it voiced the public’s frustration over the ‘consumption of the professional medical image’ under the ban on doctors selling products. Dr Jiang Qianzhi, also a US-registered dietitian, made a similar comment:
“Setting aside Registered Dietitians, there are many influencers and celebrities who call themselves nutrition professionals or have no scientific background at all, yet are using their fame and influence to profit. I would rather see Registered Dietitians doing this work; at the very least, most dietitians base their product screening and recommendations on science and professional ethics.”This resonated deeply with me. When I heard a cultural podcast I follow do a spoken ad for a supplement brand I had previously refused to work with, I felt a whirl of conflicting emotions. In that moment, it felt as if someone were scoffing at my principles: “If you won’t take the job, someone else will.” Perhaps for many content creators who aren’t nutritionists, taking supplement ads carries less of a psychological burden. They may not have the ability, as I do, to review literature, interpret data, and evaluate the quality of evidence. Because I have been trained academically and clinically, and because I subscribe to the professional code of ethics for dietitians, I simply cannot ‘play along’ or be vague. On the scales of traffic and professional boundaries, I choose to place my weight on public-interest podcast content with professional integrity, rather than the short-term rewards of traffic monetisation.
I am well aware that one dietitian’s refusal cannot stop the tide of commercial endorsements. Commercialisation is not an ‘original sin’. In fact, I enjoy using my professional expertise to advocate for books or products that truly have value. I simply hope that when we talk about ‘endorsement’, we also talk more about information transparency and conflicts of interest. If every recommendation made by a dietitian were backed by professional principles, perhaps the waters of science communication would not be so murky that it’s impossible to tell truth from falsehood.
To ensure that truly altruistic and responsible content reaches more people, we need a form of positive incentive—a mechanism that motivates professionals to produce high-quality content, rather than forcing them to constantly struggle between their conscience and their livelihood. Only by creating a virtuous cycle, where those who adhere to professional ethics do not ‘lose out’, can public-interest content stand out in a commercial environment. As one professional long involved in public policy advocacy put it:
“In such an environment, the voices of professionals, industry associations, and non-profit organisations who actively avoid the lure of corporate interests are especially precious.”
V. Consumers: How to Develop Critical Judgement?
For consumers, how can they distinguish between genuine science and commercial endorsements? In an age of information explosion, we do not lack nutritional knowledge; what we lack is a set of tools and habits to help us make judgements. Developing this discernment is the most effective ‘vaccine’ an individual can have against ‘pseudo-science’. First, consciously develop your own ‘information immunity’ and learn to recognise sales tactics. When facing topics like nutrition, wellness, or medicine, stay vigilant. By not trusting terms like ‘miraculous effects’, ‘instant results’, or ‘ancestral secret recipes’, you can avoid the majority of pseudo-scientific information.
Another common misleading tactic is presenting ‘correlation’ as ‘causality’. For example, ‘people who eat this food live longer’, but it might be that those people already enjoy exercise, have regular routines, and eat healthily. Just because A and B are related doesn’t mean A causes B. This logical sleight of hand is the easiest way to trick people into paying.
Secondly, I suggest following content creators with clear professional backgrounds and transparent sources of information. People with genuine credentials, such as Registered Dietitians or licensed physicians, are generally more trustworthy than ‘health gurus’. You can also follow official accounts run by public institutions, hospitals, or professional societies.
When someone constantly claims ‘the product is backed by data’, what data is it exactly? Which study? Who was studied? And how did the conclusion lead to you buying this specific bottle of supplements? ‘Harvard recommended’, ‘internationally certified’, ‘anti-inflammatory superfood’… these sound impressive, but buzzwords cannot replace scientific evidence. A truly reliable recommendation explains the mechanism and cites the source, rather than relying on a pile of keywords to create a veneer of professionalism.
Thirdly, be mindful of potential conflicts of interest. When content involves a specific product, ask yourself: “Does this person have a partnership with the brand?” Even if it isn’t explicitly stated, an overly promotional tone is a red flag. You can also ask directly in the comments: Is this a commercial promotion? Is there a financial relationship with the brand?
Finally, it may be best to return to the simplest view of health in daily life—a balanced diet, regular sleep, and moderate exercise. These suggestions may sound like clichés, but they are the nutritional guidelines that have best stood the test of time.
Foodthink AuthorZheng LuyueRegistered Dietitian (USA), PhD student in Nutritional Sciences at the University of New Hampshire. In recent years, under the guidance of a sociology mentor, she has been exploring the livelihoods of small-scale farmers in the New England region of the USA. She dislikes eating alone and updates two podcasts on a flexible schedule (@八九不离食, @悦食谈).
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Images without attribution were created by the author
