People can fall down a 'MAHA rabbit hole' after starting off their health journey with good intensions, a New York Times journalist has told Behind the Story.
Video journalist Alex Stockton spoke to former followers of social media influencers touting conspiracies under the guise of the ‘Make America Healthy Again’ movement.
Mr Stockton said it is easy to get swept up in the vortex.
"It can start in a lot of different ways," he said.
"We tried to speak to a lot of different people who found themselves falling down this MAHA rabbit hole and believing a lot of what these MAHA influencers were saying.
"We tried to understand the journey most people typically take – and it does often start with very good intentions".
Mr Stockton said health-conscious people are usually going online to look for health advice.
"In doing that, they start to trust these influencers that have a pretty conspiratorial mindset that cause them not just to be pursuing health actions anymore but actually causes these people to distrust healthcare.
"That gets deeper and deeper and more conspiratorial until some pretty tragic things can happen."
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Mr Stockton spoke with the sister of one woman who died after refusing to get treatment for cancer.
"These influencers told them that chemotherapy was worse than cancer and they should instead take all natural treatments like mistletoe and other things," he explained.
Mr Stockton said people tend to turn to such influencers after a negative experience in the health system.
"You see a lot of women who during pregnancy had a very negative experience with the healthcare system and the healthcare system failed them.
"So, they looked elsewhere for answers and there was an entire wellness industry waiting to scoop them up.
"I think these influencers really prey on some of the cracks in the health system and they scoop people up who fall through.
"You look at the way they talk about food and it's not about promoting moderation or promoting health eating: it’s fear-based messaging."
Mr Stockton said the healthcare system is also usually painted by such influencers as "being a route towards sickness".
"They often call it the 'sickcare system’ and then they post lots of images of them looking buff and working out, as though they have found some answer that the healthcare system has not."
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