Health Options Alan Titchenal  & Joannie Dobbs                   Wednesday, February 4, 1998

Lopsided viewpoints lurk on Web

A walk through the health section of any bookstore quickly reveals the explosion of information on nutrition and health. It appears that Americans have insatiable appetites for this information. Almost every hot nutrition or health topic becomes some sort of self-help publication or product.

Since the 1970s there's been a growing number of books on nutrition and health written by people whose writings have been based on beliefs as strong as any religion.

Many of these authors have used selected scientific references to support their points of view, carefully avoiding research opposing their views. Consequently, the area of nutrition and health is now sometimes more like politics than science, with people only looking for support for their predetermined positions. True scientists, searching for the truth, attempt to remain objective, presenting viewpoints based on balanced science.

Over the last decade or so, television also has entered into the self-help market. Infomercials on weight loss, nutrition, nutritional supplements, and exercise equipment play around the clock. Their popularity indicates that Americans have a continued interest in health and fitness and are willing to spend plenty of money on products claiming to provide it.

The Internet is rapidly becoming the major source of information on nutrition and health. A search on the Internet for the term nutrition lists nearly 1,500 sites. A closer look shows most of these sites are supported by health product and nutritional supplement vendors. Although a convenient and rapid means of information retrieval, the Internet must be used with careful judgment and healthy skepticism.

The World Health Organization, in response to complaints from numerous countries, met to de­velop recommendations to help curb the escalating use of the Internet by promoters of health fraud. The WHO has reported that approximately one-third of the in­formation about food, nutrition and dietary supplements on the WEB is actually misinformation.

Over the last two years a growing numbers of displays presented by students at the state high school science fair were solely based on information from the Internet. This in itself is not a problem. However, a large amount of the information distributed over the Internet takes on the “appearance” of science without the rigor of science.

Some ads provide misinformation in the format of a scientific paper or even a journal with some official sounding title. Testimonials about health products have replaced scientific studies, supposedly proving benefits without ever being subjected to controlled rigorous evaluation by scientific communities.

Recently Tufts University started a Web site that evaluates nutrition Web sites for kids, par­ents, educators, health pro­fession­als and journalists. Tufts' Nutrition Navigator (www.navigator.tufts.edu) is the first website to systematically re­view over 200 nutrition sites for accuracy.

Within the next two years an additional 800 sites will be added and updated regularly. The 25-point rating scale of Nutrition Navigator is based on nutrition ac­curacy, depth of information, regular updating and usability.

The glitzy Web sites pretending to give nutrition information as a way of selling a product would receive low ratings. To make getting to the most sound nutrition information easier, average or better sites are directly linked.

A “gateway” like this can save hours of computer time and reduce the risk of getting confused and possibly even harmed by mis­information.