#healthypregnancy: A content analysis of TikTok posts about nutrition and exercise during pregnancy

The present study explored the characteristics and accuracy of TikTok messaging regarding nutrition and exercise during pregnancy.

Using quantitative content analysis, researchers coded TikTok top posts (n = 800) for content about nutrition and/or exercise during pregnancy in 1 month in May 2022.

Nutrition posts created by credentialed individuals were 69.2% congruent with expert recommendations and largely did not provide specific calorie (97.5%) or weight gain recommendations (92.4%). Content created by an exercise specialist focused on strength training (67.1%) over aerobic training. When all exercise types and intensities were grouped together, 40.6% fully adhered to and 59.4% deviated from published expert recommendations. Content on strength training was significantly less likely to adhere to the guidelines compared to content on aerobic exercise. Those who indicated their own professional training were not more likely to publish content that was congruent with guidelines than those without known expertise.

Experts and recommending groups in the United States need to address the gap between the apparent interest in strength training during pregnancy and the relative lack of specific and usable guidelines on this type of exercise.