Scroll through TikTok long enough, and you’ll be told your gut needs a reset, a cleanse, a 30-day reboot, a greens powder, gummies, and an amino acid you’ve never heard of. Follow the advice, and you’re looking at a habit that costs hundreds of dollars a month, with little to show for it.
That’s if you’re lucky. Some people end up in hospital, according to gastroenterologist Dr. Trisha Pasricha.
“I’ve seen patients in the emergency room with severe damage to their liver where we suspected supplements they’d found online were a contributing factor,” said Pasricha, who works at Harvard Medical School and directs the Institute for Gut-Brain Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “It’s a sobering reminder that ‘natural’ doesn’t mean safe, and that the supplement industry operates with far less regulatory oversight than people assume.”
The hashtag #GutTok alone has racked up over six billion views. Creators share morning supplement stacks, “what I eat in a day for gut health” reels, and tags like #HotGirlsHaveStomachIssues. One study in the journal “Public Health” found that 72% of Gen Z list gut health as a top-three health concern. Brands like Bloom Nutrition and BelliWelli have built empires on bloated stomach photos and “before and after” reels, helping push the U.S. gut health supplement market past $5 billion.
