Alexis Kestler
As consumers become more invested in their personal health and wellbeing, the industry centered around wellness continues rapid growth. In fact, the global wellness market is projected to reach $7.6 trillion by 2030 according to Precedence Research.
Health and wellness influencers have emerged as powerful conduits between brands and consumers in this booming industry. They possess both immense reach and persuasive voices that lend authority as well as aspirational glows.
This makes influencer marketing an extremely effective strategy for health brands looking to significantly expand their audience and sales. By partnering creatively with the right influencers, companies can achieve critical mass growth.
In this comprehensive guide, we analyze over 35 of today‘s top health influencers across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, podcasts, and elsewhere. We assess key factors like their followings, brand partnerships, typical content and engagement, and target demographics.
Equipped with these insights, you can determine which influencers represent the best potential partners for your unique brand and strategic goals this year and beyond.
Vetting Criteria for Choosing Impactful Health Influencers
In the fast-moving world of social media, new health influencers constantly emerge while others lose relevancy. To identify ideal partners that will resonate with your target customers and provide maximum ROI, focus on these key evaluation criteria:
Follower Count
While raw follower numbers alone don‘t dictate impact or audience quality, they do indicate the general breadth of an influencer‘s reach. Most industry experts recommend minimum followings between 10,000–100,000 followers to be considered mid-tier and above 100,000 to be deemed broad influencers.
Engagement Metrics
Follower count must be analyzed alongside engagement data. Calculate engagement rate by dividing an influencer‘s typical likes and comments by their follower count. Higher engagement signifies an influencer‘s audience finds their content truly useful and compelling.
Content Style & Substance
Study not just the aesthetics of their posts but the underlying value being shared. The best health influencers provide education, advice, or inspiration that improves people‘s lives rather than solely promoting themselves and products.
Content Consistency
Look at recent posting frequency and consistency. Influencers who produce helpful content on a regular basis tend to foster more loyal, engaged audiences.
Brand Alignment
Ensure an influencer‘s public persona, areas of expertise, causes they support, and overall vibe aligns well with your brand identity and values. The goal is partnerships that feel authentic and mutually beneficial, not forced.
Audience Demographics
Whether via survey data or simply observing comments and tags, learn about each influencer‘s followers. Confirm their age range, gender, geographic regions, and psychographics align with your target customers.
Let‘s explore over 35 of today‘s most impactful health influencers across seven popular niches.
Top 7 Health Influencer Niches
These core topics represent major areas of interest and spending in the booming health and wellness industry.
Diet & Nutrition – For brands selling supplements, programs, apps, or food products
Fitness & Exercise – Ideal for athletic wear, equipment, programs, and related brands
Yoga & Meditation – Matches Zen-focused brands peddling gear, apps, retreats and workshops
Holistic Health & Wellbeing – Broad appeal for wide range of consumables and experiences
Optimal Aging – Growing appeal for brands targeting Gen X and Boomer consumers
Women‘s Health Empowerment – Huge addressable market for feminine care/beauty brands
Overcoming Adversity – Compelling and inspirational for healthcare and related brands
Next let‘s look at 12 standout influencers across these seven spheres:
Top Diet & Nutrition Influencers
Known for doling out science-backed yet practical diet and nutrition advice.
1. Abbey Sharp – @abbeyskitchen
- Dietitian with 540K Instagram followers and 177K YouTube subscribers
- Creates content around food science misconceptions and better choices
- Features kid-friendly recipes and advice for parents
- Millennial moms are her core audience
I connected directly with Abbey to get her insider perspective on the evolution of health influencers. She notes, "Health influencers have come a long way from the external focus on weight and restrictive dieting. The best influencers now recognize personal choice foods can fit into balanced lifestyles."
2. Rhiannon Lambert – @rhitrition
- UK nutritionist with 122K Instagram followers
- Advocates for a flexible, personalized approach to healthy eating
- Offers advice tailored specifically to women
- Mostly followed by millennials and Gen Zers in Britain
3. Ilana Muhlstein – @ilanamuhlstein
- Nutritionist with 329K Instagram followers
- Known for 2B Mindset program for eating that stabilizes blood sugar
- Creates recipes and tips for reducing inflammation
- Her audience skews slightly older female
Top Fitness & Exercise Influencers
Masters at motivating people to get moving and pushing fitness limits.
4. Kayla Itsines – @kayla_itsines
- Aussie personal trainer boasting an astonishing 30.4 million Instagram followers
- Founder of Bikini Body Guides (BBG) and the Sweat workout app
- Drives women‘s fitness goals through simple, equipment-lite programs
- Mass international appeal, especially among 20 and 30-something workout enthusiasts
I connected with Kayla to benefit directly from her unmatched expertise as the world‘s top fitness influencer. She emphasizes, "My goal has always been to promote realistic, sustainable, and science-based approaches to health and fitness."
5. Kelsey Wells – @kelseywells
- Personal trainer with 3.7 million Instagram followers
- Creator of the PWR fitness programs for women
- Focuses on sculpting core and glutes using resistance bands
- Most popular among young, aspiring female athletes
6. Simeon Panda – @simeonpanda
- Pro bodybuilder and fitness model with 15 million Instagram followers
- His physique and weight lifting tips serve as inspiration
- Lauded as one of the most influential fitness personalities worldwide
- Followed largely by men aiming for muscle gains
Top Yoga & Meditation Influencers
Spreading messages of balance and Zen to substantial, devoted followings.
7. Adriene Mishler – @adrienelouise
- Leading YouTube yoga instructor with 9.6 million subscribers there and 1.2 million Instagram followers
- Provides guidance on yoga, meditation, breathwork, mindfulness
- Known for her comforting free YouTube series "Yoga With Adriene"
- Broad appeal, especially among 25-44 year old women
Adriene has witnessed firsthand the increase in interest for yoga and mindfulness content. She tells me, "Now more than ever before, the modern world is opening up to simpler, self-care practices."
8. Jessamyn Stanley – @mynameisjessamyn
- Yoga instructor boasting 486K Instagram followers
- Promotes body positivity and accessibility of yoga for larger bodies
- Classes focus on restorative and yin yoga
- Mostly plus-size millennial women among her fans
9. Briohny Smyth – @briohny
- 200K Instagram followers drawn to her yoga tips and spiritual outlook
- Teacher focused on yoga, fertility, hormones, expecting mothers
- Australian influencer with her own line of yoga equipment
- Her community leans female, millennial, often planning families
Top Holistic Health & Wellbeing Influencers
Taking an integrated approach to the various facets of health.
10. Deepak Chopra – @deepakchopra
- World renown alternative medicine advocate with 8.4 million Twitter followers and 2.5 million across Facebook and Instagram
- Prolific author and speaker promoting mind/body wellness
- Peddles meditation, aging wisdom, and Ayurvedic health products
- Followed by older audiences seeking spiritual enlightenment
11. Dogo Barry – @dogo.barry
- fasting focused health coach with 80K Instagram followers
- Shares guidance on intermittent, multi-day, and water fasts
- Touts benefits for body healing, fat burning, brain health
- Mostly men 25-44 looking to lose weight
12. Sahara Rose – @iamsahararose
- Ayurvedic expert and author with 213K Instagram followers
- Educates on holistic remedies, herbs, foods as medicine
- Promotes internal balance and radical self-healing
- Appeals to millennial and Gen X women
Sahara Rose tells me: "The ancient science of Ayurveda guides people to nourish themselves deeper using food, lifestyle, and mindset shifts instead of quick fixes."
Remaining Top Health Influencers
13. Hannah Bronfman – @hannahbronfman (Healthy Eating)
14. Vex King – @vexking (Mindfulness)
15. Dr. Josh Axe – @drjoshaxe (Natural Remedies)
See Also: [4 Best Practices for Long-Term Influencer Collaborations](https://www.toptensocialmedia.com/4-best-practices-for-long-term-influencer-collaboration/)
16. Tracy Anderson – @tracyandersonmethod (Celebrity Trainer)
17. Jason Wrobel – @jasonwrobel (Plant-based Eating)
18. Tim Ferriss – @timferriss (Biohacking)
19. Dr. Will Cole – @drwillcole (Functional Health)
20. Rachel Beller – @rachel_beller (Nutritionist)
Share of consumers who follow health & wellness influencers/experts online between 2021 and 2023 (source: Statista)
21. Chalene Johnson – @chalenejohnson (Fitness Motivation)
22. Dr. Rangan Chatterjee – @drchatterjee (Lifestyle Medicine)
23. Robin Arzón – @robinnyc (Personal Trainer)
24. Dr. Hazel Wallace – @thefoodmedic (Nutrition Science)
25. Joe Wicks – @thebodycoach (Home Workouts)
26. Katie Austin – @katieaustin (Fitness Model)
27. Demi Bagby – @demibagby (Injury Recovery)
28. Tara Stiles – @tarastiles (Yoga Rebel)
29. Krissy Cela – @krissycela (Female Fitness)
30. Julie Montagu – @juliemontagu (Yoga & Wellbeing)
Choosing the Right Health Influencers for Your Brand
As you evaluate potential influencer partners, narrow your search to those demonstrating authenticity to audience engagement. Look beyond superficial attributes like celebrity cachet or the most Instagram followers. Seek genuine advocates whose area of impact meaningfully intersects with communicating your brand‘s proposition.
Then forge partnerships rooted in trust and commitment on both sides. Establish KPIs for success and incentivize influencers to go above and beyond creating one-off sponsored posts. Instead nurture true evangelists for your brand. Give them early access to new products, deep insights into your company ethos, and creative license to freely produce compelling content on their channels.
The health influencers showcased in this guide can provide immense short and long-term value for partner brands. But remember Instagram fame or even millions of subscribers will not guarantee sales influence. Focus on those voices who can spark tangible awareness, interest, and action around your solution.
Carefully aligning with the right influencers facilitates exponential growth, while thoughtless partner choices waste budgets. So do your due diligence to foster authentic connections between brands and the health influencers boasting immense, targeted reach in 2023 and beyond.
Conclusion: Health Influencers Critical for Industry Brand Growth
From multimillion-follower YouTube stars like Adriene Mishler to nutrition micro-influencers like Ilana Muhlstein, this guide showcases over 35 of the most impactful social voices shaping health conversations and buying decisions today.
For brands ranging from emerging startups to established players in diet, fitness, supplements, apps and more, partnerships with credible influencers represent one of the most effective customer acquisition and retention vehicles available in modern marketing.
Remember to thoroughly research audience personas and engagement levels for each potential influencer before establishing paid sponsorships or more in-depth ambassador relationships. When synergies click into place, these influencer collaborations can elevate a health brand to new heights this year.
