{"id":381767,"date":"2026-03-12T18:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T18:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/381767\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T18:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T18:21:09","slug":"popular-ai-chatbots-are-prescribing-dangerous-crash-diets-to-teenagers-counter-to-medical-guidelines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/381767\/","title":{"rendered":"Popular AI Chatbots Are Prescribing Dangerous Crash Diets to Teenagers Counter to Medical Guidelines"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Young<\/a><\/p>\n

Five of the most advanced artificial intelligence models were recently asked to write a three-day weight-loss meal plan for a 15-year-old. The algorithms failed the test, prescribing diet plans that provided nearly 700 calories fewer than the intake levels recommended by a registered dietitian and skewing macronutrients into risky extremes.<\/p>\n

This calorie gap is roughly the size of a full meal. In a study published in Frontiers in Nutrition, researchers in Turkey found that these models systematically underestimate energy needs, creating a deficit large enough to cause serious clinical consequences for growing bodies.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiet plans generated by artificial intelligence often underestimate the total energy needs of adolescents and produce an unbalanced distribution of nutrients. In many cases, carbohydrate intake was lower while fat and protein levels were higher than recommended ranges,\u201d Dr. Ay\u015fe Bet\u00fcl Bilen, an assistant professor at Istanbul Atlas University and corresponding author of the new study, told ZME Science.<\/p>\n

Teens increasingly turn to chatbots for health advice because professional dietitians can be expensive and difficult to access. But AI models learn from the internet, meaning they absorb the toxic diet culture that dominates online spaces.<\/p>\n

\u201cAI systems are designed to generate responses that appear helpful and plausible. However, they are not necessarily trained to strictly follow clinical nutrition guidelines. As a result, they may sometimes produce diet plans that resemble popular weight-loss approaches seen online, rather than plans tailored to the specific nutritional needs of adolescents,\u201d Bilen added.<\/p>\n

AIs Love a Massive Calorie Deficit<\/p>\n

\"Robot<\/a>Credit: ZME Science\/AI-generated using Nanobanana 2.<\/p>\n

The researchers created four standardized profiles for 15-year-old boys and girls categorized as overweight or obese. They fed these profiles into the free versions of the AI tools, requesting a simple three-day menu of easily accessible foods.<\/p>\n

The team then compared the AI outputs to a reference plan built by a real pediatric dietitian, who strictly followed international nutritional guidelines.<\/p>\n

The chatbots failed at basic energy math. On average, the AI models prescribed almost 700 fewer calories per day than the human expert. Missing 700 calories is a pretty big deal, the equivalent of skipping an entire main meal.<\/p>\n

\u00d7<\/p>\n

Thank you! One more thing…<\/p>\n

Please check your inbox and confirm your subscription.<\/p>\n

What happens when an algorithm starves a growing body? Bilen explained the stakes in an email: \u201cThis matters because adolescence is a critical period of rapid growth and development, and balanced nutrition is essential to support bone health, brain development, and overall metabolic health.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing such unbalanced or overly restrictive meal plans during the teenage years may negatively affect growth, metabolic health, and eating behaviors,\u201d Bilen added.<\/p>\n

Low Carbs, High Risks<\/p>\n

You might wonder what the AIs did wrong. After all, shouldn\u2019t a weight-loss diet drastically cut calories? While shedding weight requires a caloric deficit, growing teenagers still need a precise balance of macronutrients to fuel their developing brains and bodies. The AI models completely ignored this physiological reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cAI-generated diet plans consistently deviated from the recommended macronutrient balance, which is particularly problematic for adolescents,\u201d Bilen pointed out.<\/p>\n

The human dietitian designed meals where carbohydrates safely made up about 44% to 46% of the daily energy. The AI models slashed carbs down to an average of 32% to 36%. This deprived the digital teens of around 115 grams of necessary carbohydrates every day.<\/p>\n

To compensate, the chatbots aggressively pushed protein and fat. The AI diets added about 20 extra grams of protein, raising it to 21% to 24% of the daily caloric intake. Fats shot up to 41% to 45% of total calories.<\/p>\n

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine clearly states<\/a> that 45\u201350 percent of calories should come from carbs, with only 30\u201335 percent from fats and 15\u201320 percent from proteins.<\/p>\n

Instead, the AI effectively prescribed adult keto and high-protein fad diets to children.<\/p>\n

The Long-Term Danger of Digital Diets<\/p>\n

All commercially available chatbots failed this task. It looks like the errors were baked into the foundational technology itself, most likely a result of using more or less the same training data.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than a single model performing dramatically worse than the others, we observed a general pattern across models. While there were differences between them, most of the AI systems showed similar tendencies to underestimate energy intake and alter macronutrient balance. This suggests that the issue may be more related to how these systems generate nutrition advice rather than the behavior of a single model,\u201d Bilen told ZME Science.<\/p>\n

The consequences of blindly following a chatbot\u2019s dietary advice are severe.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf an adolescent consistently follows a diet that does not meet their energy and nutrient needs, it could potentially affect growth, bone mineralization, and overall health. Adolescents require sufficient calories and balanced nutrients to support rapid physical and cognitive development. While short-term changes may not immediately cause harm, long-term dietary imbalance during this stage could have negative consequences,\u201d Bilen said. <\/p>\n

\u201cLower energy and carbohydrate intake, combined with increased protein and fat ratios, may pose risks during the adolescent growth period\u201d.<\/p>\n

Coding Better Guardrails<\/p>\n

As teenagers continue consulting AI for health advice, tech companies must hardcode better safety nets into their algorithms.<\/p>\n

When asked what developers should do, Bilen said, \u201cAI systems could automatically prioritize evidence-based nutritional guidelines and encourage consultation with qualified health professionals when appropriate\u201d.<\/p>\n

For teenagers navigating the immense pressure to lose weight, a chatbot offers speed and convenience, bypassing the significant social and economic hurdles to professional help. But in this case, convenience may come at a severe medical cost that may stunt their development. <\/p>\n

\u201cArtificial intelligence has enormous potential to support health education and provide accessible information. However, when it comes to nutrition recommendations \u2014 especially for young people \u2014 professional oversight and evidence-based guidance remain essential,\u201d Bilen concluded.<\/p>\n

The findings appeared in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five of the most advanced artificial intelligence models were recently asked to write a three-day weight-loss meal plan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[78],"tags":[291,1600,2368,18,135,19,17,48952,564],"class_list":["post-381767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-ai","tag-chatbot","tag-diet","tag-eire","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-teenager","tag-weight-loss"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116217596255985748","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}