If you’ve found yourself on ‘healthtok’ when scrolling your way through TikTok, you’ll no doubt have seen plenty of users sharing medical advice.
However, one doctor has now shared the ‘instant red flag’ you should be looking out for in these videos - especially when it comes to advice from non-medical professionals.
Debunking a video shared by a TikTok user claiming that ‘doctors don’t tell you to take a crucial supplement after having your gallbladder removed’, Dr Karan Raj set the record straight.
Speaking to his five million followers, Dr Raj said: “Having divorced countless people from their pesky gallbladders, let me tell you the truth.
“Your liver produces bile, which contains bile acids and bile salts and the gallbladder is just a glorified storage tank of excess bile.”
He explained that when your gallbladder is removed you might experience diarrhoea at first because the excess bile from the liver no longer can be stored in the gallbladder and instead heads straight to the intestines.
This can upset the colon and lead to upset bowels and that yes, while some people benefit from medication to help with this, constant supplements are not essential as the original TikTok user claimed.
In a follow up comment Dr Raj shared his advice for determining whether a video is sharing correct health advice or not.
“If a user says ‘doctors are hiding this from you’ or ‘doctors don’t tell you this one thing’ take that as a red flag,” he advised.
Other users flocked to the comments section to thank the doctor for debunking the video with one writing: “I love these posts where they spout nonsense like 'your doctor won’t tell you this' – what possible reason would a doctor not tell you to do something that will help?”