In mid-April 2026, Dr. Diaa Al Awadi was found dead in his room at a hotel in Dubai. Following an investigation, the UAE authorities issued a medical report indicating that the cause of death was a sudden heart attack, with no criminal suspicion.

According to the Egyptian medical website "El Consolto", Dr. Diaa Al Awadi was born in 1979 into an academic family. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Ain Shams University with Honors, and then specialized in Anesthesia, Intensive Care, and Pain Management. 

Dr. Al Awadi’s academic career included serving as an Assistant Professor in the Intensive Care department at Ain Shams University until roughly 2023. After earning his PhD in Intensive Care, he transitioned from conventional medicine into the realms of preventive medicine and therapeutic nutrition. He gained notoriety for championing the "Tayyibat Diet System," which he marketed as a substitute for standard medical treatments. His promotion of these unorthodox methods generated significant medical controversy, ultimately resulting in sanctions from the Egyptian Medical Syndicate, which included the revocation of his medical license, the closure of his clinic, and the removal of his name from professional registers.

Stardom After Death

Following Al Awadi's death, discussion about the "Tayyibat System" spread widely on social media platforms, with dozens of pages and accounts emerging that carried his name or the name of the diet system he was known for.

The account "Khaled Swida @KhaledSwida" was the first account to promote the system on X using the hashtags #الطيبات (Tayyibat) and #نظام_الطيبات (Tayyibat_System) on April 19, the same day the news of Al Awadi's death was announced.

We found another account with the same name, "Khaled Mohamed Swida," on Facebook, which listed "Constitution Party - El Mahalla El Kubra Secretariat" in the work section. It also turned out that he had previously been accused by the State Security Prosecution in 2018 of "participating in a terrorist group established in violation of the provisions of the law and using social media sites to disseminate false news."

Oother accounts on the X were also active in spreading hashtags associated with the diet and Diaa Al Awadi. A number of the accounts promoting these hashtags bore the characteristics of fake or inauthentic accounts, and were publishing content affirming the diet’s safety and denying the existence of any problems associated with it, despite warnings from a number of specialists regarding its dangers, especially for patients who replace traditional medical treatment by following it.

Amplification of the Hashtag "Tayyibat_System” Preceding Al Awadi’s Death

Although the major wave of promotion for the system escalated on X after the announcement of Al Awadi's death, tracking the digital activity associated with it shows that the promotion of the doctor and his diet began several weeks prior to that, specifically on Facebook.

On April 3, 2026, and following the appearance of Diaa Al Awadi with journalist Mahmoud Saad, a page on Facebook called "Tayyibat Doctor – Medical X Ray Interpretation" ("طبيب الطيبات – ترجمة الأشعة الطبية") published a video clip of Al Awadi explaining his diet system within a group named "Explaining the Tayyibat System – For Free" ("شرح نظام الطيبات – مجانا").

The page is responsible for managing the group, which was created on March 30, 2026, less than a month before Al Awadi’s death. The edit log also revealed that the page, classified as a "doctor" page, was created in November 2017 under the name "Translate & Reassure" ("ترجم & اطمن"), then its name was changed in 2018 to "Medical X Ray Interpretation" ("ترجمة الأشعة الطبية"), before its name was changed to "Tayyibat Doctor" ("طبيب الطيبات") on April 29, 2026, about a week after Al Awadi's death.

This sequence shows that the page shifted content, which focused on medical imaging interpretation, to content specialized in promoting a diet regime and related health issues. The page's transparency data also showed that it is managed from Turkey.

On April 6, 2026, another post promoting #نظام_الطيبات (Tayyibat System) appeared within a group on (Facebook) with about 1.2 million members, titled "Followers of Dr. Diaa Al Awadi. Tayyibat System, We Respect Opinion and Counter Opinion" (متابعي د.ضياء العوضي . نظام الطيبات ونحترم الرأي والرأي الآخر).

The post was published by an account named "Tarek Elagamy," which is one of the active accounts promoting the diet. An examination of the account showed indicators that raise doubts about its authenticity, as it does not post personal content and does not use a real photo.

During April, dozens of accounts, pages, and groups appeared, promoting #نظام_الطيبات (Tayyibat System) as a means of self-healing. The impact of these messages reached the extent of pushing some patients to stop their medications without specialized medical consultation.

Accounts bearing the characteristics of fake or inauthentic accounts also participated in posting hundreds of posts within different pages and groups on social media platforms, which indicates that the promotion of the diet shifted from sporadic activity to a wide and coordinated online campaign.

Thousands of Posts and Millions of Interactions: 

How the “Tayyibat System” Spread

Despite warnings from a large number of doctors and specialists regarding the risks of following the "Tayyibat System," especially for patients who might stop receiving their medical treatment, posts promoting the system continued to spread across various social media platforms. Within a few weeks, Diaa Al Awadi's clips turned into widely circulated content, appearing heavily on various platforms and reaching millions of users in the Arab world.

This spread was reflected in the publication and reach indicators, as data showed a significant rise in the number of posts during May and the beginning of June, bringing the total number of posts related to the controversial diet to about 11,600 within one month.

These posts achieved an estimated 3.1 billion views, in addition to over 51.3 million interactions—figures that reflect the significant digital reach attained by the campaign and the high level of user engagement with it.

The circulated content was not limited to the hashtag #نظام_الطيبات (Tayyibat System), as the majority of posts also used the hashtags #الطيبات (Tayyibat) and #دكتور_ضياء_العوضي (Dr. Diaa Al Awadi). This was reflected in the cloud of the most popular words, where phrases like "Diaa Al Awadi," "Tayyibat System," and "Dr. Diaa" topped the list of words most present in the posts and comments related to the campaign.

Analyses conducted using specialized tools for monitoring digital campaigns also showed that Facebook accounted for the largest share of posts at 45.6%, followed by YouTube at 22.38%, and then X at 18.4%.

This distribution can explain the density of content related to Al Awadi on Facebook compared to other platforms, especially since Facebook still enjoys widespread popularity among older age groups, compared to YouTube and TikTok, which attract relatively younger segments.

The spread of content was not limited to Egypt. Data showed that Egyptian accounts were the most interactive with posts related to the diet, followed by accounts from Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Yemen, Jordan, and Iraq. The data also recorded interactions from non-Arab countries, including the United States, Germany, and Britain, which reflects the wide geographical scope of the online campaign.

The Most Active Accounts in Promoting the Tayyibat System

Through analyzing the data of 11,600 posts and mapping the interaction network between them, we were able to identify the most active and influential accounts in publishing content related to the Tayyibat System.

The network showed that the Khaled Swida (@KhaledSwida) account was among the most active accounts in terms of interaction via comments, as it published 68 posts related to the diet and was among the first accounts that began promoting it on X.

The account "@hamdiali2511" emerged, carrying the name #ترند_اليوم (Today’s Trend). This is a non-personal account dedicated to posting trending topics, and it published 118 posts related to the diet during one month.

Another account, "@faramawione" appeared under the name "Faramawi," which published 196 promotional posts for the diet. Examination of the account showed that it is active from Morocco and does not use a real personal photo or a name that appears to be real.

This account frequently interacts with another account named "@AliAli137278" with the display name "#نظام_الطيبات .. محبي د. ضياء العوضي" (Tayyibat System, Fans of Dr. Diaa Al Awadi), which published 41 posts related to the diet. Examination showed that the account was created in April 2026, and transparency data indicates it is active from the West Asia region, the region in which the UAE is classified within the platform's data.

Alongside the most interactive accounts, data showed the existence of accounts that were the most productive of content related to the system. The most prominent was the "Al sharkawy photographer" on YouTube, which published 392 videos in one month.

The account belongs to Ashraf El Sharkawy, a professional photographer who works in event photography. He used his channels to repost Diaa Al Awadi's clips and promote his diet, achieving tens of thousands of views.

Following him was the "Mawaqe' Bela Hodoud" (Sites Without Borders) account on Facebook, which published 222 posts related to the diet. The account indicates that it is based in Tunisia and is linked to an electronic blog of the same name that publishes material discussing the Tayyibat System.

The page "نظام الطيبات دكتور ضياء العوضي" (Tayyibat System Dr. Diaa Al Awadi) on Facebook also published 210 posts, most of which were video clips of Al Awadi talking about his diet system. Examination of the page showed it was newly created on May 6, 2026, while transparency data indicates it is managed from Italy.

These results indicate the existence of a large number of pages and accounts that were newly created or bear the characteristics of inauthentic accounts, which played a noticeable role in reposting Al Awadi's clips and content related to his dietary system, whether with the aim of promoting it or to benefit from the high volume of interaction these clips garnered.

A Controversial Professional End

On March 10, 2026, the Egyptian Ministry of Health announced the implementation of administrative closure decision No. 256 regarding the medical facility owned by Diaa Al Awadi in Nasr City, in addition to the revocation of his license to practice the profession, in implementation of the decision of the Medical Syndicate's disciplinary committee.

The ministry confirmed that the decision came after the doctor was proven to have published misleading medical information, including calling on diabetic patients to stop using insulin, which could put their lives at risk.

As revealed by Dr. Khaled Amin, a member of the Medical Syndicate Council who participated in the investigation committee with Al Awadi, the latter did not deny the accusations attributed to him during the investigation sessions, but rather defended his ideas strongly, citing historical examples and figures who faced societal rejection before gaining acceptance later.

According to Amin, his final encounter with Al Awadi was quite remarkable; Al Awadi told him, "I only wish you would listen to me, and your health would be something else." This statement, Amin noted, illustrates how deeply Al Awadi believed in his theories, even in the face of intense scientific and professional scrutiny.