On a platform like Instagram, where there’s few forces mediating the information that’s passed from a celebrity or influencer to their followers, it’s notoriously easy for health information of questionable veracity to spread like a game of telephone—losing attribution and context as it moves. When I mentioned to Sloan that William appeared to be the trend’s originator and that his background was questionable, she was surprised. “He’s not a doctor?” She’s only been on celery juice for five days, but she says she feels pretty good—at least, more hydrated.

I asked the registered dietitian Ashley Koff what she thought of celery juice, and she wasn’t impressed, even though she was enthusiastic about celery as a healthy snack in general. “There is no one food that will cure your cancer, inflammatory disease, or other ailment, so don’t believe the hype you see and hear on Instagram.” That was echoed by Lisa Young, a registered dietitian, nutritionist, and professor of nutrition at New York University. “You’ll see something take off where you just have to have celery, or you just have to have kale—one vegetable is really not better than another.”