For beauty and fashion influencer Toni Bravo, the secret to glowing skin isn’t a K-beauty serum or a triple-digit skincare device — it’s a can of sardines.
“Everyone wants a skincare routine until I mention sardines. Do you want it or not?” Bravo said in a Feb. 10 TikTok to his 930,700 followers. “I’ve eaten sardines my whole life…so I’ve known the power and beauty of the fish.”
The concept of “eating skin care,” specifically fatty fish like sardines, salmon, and canned mackerel, is not new. Long embraced in wellness circles as a sort of “nature’s Botox,” sardines are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, high-quality protein, calcium, vitamins, selenium and iron. They have been linked to improving skin barrier function and reducing inflammatory responses, both of which can contribute to healthier-looking skin over time.
But the trend has taken hold once again on TikTok, where users are experimenting with “sardine diets” for everything from weight loss to clearer skin, while others are simply adding the salty snack to their routines after seeing the results, or at least the promise of them, on Bravo and other influencers.
“Mrs. Toni Bravo alone convinced me to try a can of sardines,” said one user on TikTok before trying sardines for the first time. In another video, a TikToker said that when she found out that Bravo’s thing was sardines, she thought: “Now it’s going to be my thing too.”
“When my skin starts to break out or look dull… like sardines because clear skin starts from within,” another user wrote in a video.
Experts say sardines are undeniably rich in nutrients and have long been linked to overall health and hydration, as well as maintaining an anti-inflammatory balance and supporting skin barriers. But fatty fish isn’t the skin care and weight loss savior that some influencers suggest.
“The downside is that canned sardines can be high in sodium and may not be tolerated well by some people due to reflux, histamine-induced migraines, or simply taste preference,” Amy Goodson, a registered dietitian, told NBC News. “Nutritionally, they are great, but they are not a ‘magic’ food and they don’t work for everyone.”
When it comes to skin health, Goodson emphasized that the body’s largest organ doesn’t respond to a single food, but to “multiple nutrients working together,” such as vitamin C for collagen and zinc for wound healing and acne regulation.
Dr. William Li, a physician and scientist who focuses on the relationship between health and food, also noted that “there is no record of sardines being a skin beauty food,” only the omega-3s contained in the tiny fish.
“The most beneficial components are the omega-3s in sardines: EPA and DHA,” Li said.
“Human studies show that these omega-3s reduce inflammatory biomarkers and protect against oxidative stress and cellular damage,” Li said. “Omega3: also supports vascular health, which is important for skin health,” he added.
That’s where TikTok’s narrative about the “sardine diet” or even “sardine fast” hit a nutritional wall.
Viral diet fasting, which is as simple as eating only sardines for a set period of time, promises to help with skin problems, fat loss, and lower blood sugar. Dr. Annette Bosworth, an American doctor known as “Dr. Boz” on TikTok who specializes in metabolic health, even called it a quick way to raise blood levels of ketones, a chemical the body produces when it burns fat for energy instead of carbohydrates.
“You can’t ‘detox,’ reset hormones, or dramatically transform skin with a single food in a few days,” Goodson said. “Skin changes typically occur over weeks or months, not days, and depend on overall lifestyle: quality of diet, sleep, hydration, stress and sun exposure.”
Instead, experts agree that sardines should be treated as a smart addition to a broader diet, such as adding them to salads or on top of avocado toast, and that restricting them to just one food could even have adverse effects.
The Internet, however, still can’t seem to move away from affordable canned salted fish.
As model and content creator Ally Renne explained in a January TikTok while holding an open can of silver fish in olive oil: “You see you want to shine this year, but you’re not eating sardines, what are you doing?”
“This is skin care in a can,” she added.
