Mark Twain once said,“Be careful about reading health books.You could die of a misprint.” If he was alive today, he probably would have included websites that dole out health advice.More than 60 percent of American adult Internet users have surfed millions of websites looking for health and medical information.

Don’t assume that a slick website is a sound website. Although many websites, such as Shape Up America! (www.shapeup.org) and the Tufts Health & Nutrition Newsletter (www.healthletter.tufts.edu) provide credible, reliable, up-to-date nutrition information, many, many others do not. Remember, anyone with computer skills can put up a website. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) of United States has developed.

10 questions that you should consider when viewing a nutrition- or health-related website

1. Who Runs the Site?

Credible websites are willing to show their credentials. For example, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine of United States (www.nccam.nih.gov) provides information about its association with the NIH and its extensive ongoing research and educational programs. If you have to spend more than a minute trying to find out who runs the website, you should click to another site.

2. Who Pays for the Site?

Running a website is expensive, and finding out who’s paying for a particular site will tell you something about the reliability of its content. Websites sponsored by the government (with URL ending in .gov), or an academic institution (.edu) are more reliable than many commercial websites (.com or .net). Some commercial websites, such as WebMD, carry articles that can be reliable if they are written by credible health professionals, but other websites may be promoting information to suit a company’s own purposes.

For example, if the funding source for the website is a vitamin and mineral supplement company, are all the articles geared toward supporting the use of supplements?  Does the website have advertisers, and do their products also influence the content on the website? You need to investigate whether the website content may be biased based on the funding source.

3. What Is the Purpose of the Site?

After you answer the first two questions, look for the “About This Site” link. This will help you understand the website’s purpose. For example, at Nutrition.gov, the purpose is to “provide easy access to the best food and nutrition information across the federal government of United States.” This website doesn’t exist to sell you anything, but to help you find reliable information.

4. Where Does the Information Come from?

You should always know who wrote what you are reading. Is the author a qualified nutrition expert, or did she or he interview qualified individuals? If the site obtained information from another source, was that source cited?

5. What Is the Basis of the Information?

Is the article’s information based on medical facts and figures that have references? For example, any medical news items released on the American Heart Association website (www.americanheart.org) will include the medical journal from which the information came. In fact, the website will often include the opinion of experts regarding the news items.

6. How Is the Information Selected?

A physician who is a well-known medical expert for a major television network once commented that he spends most of his time not delivering medical advice, but trying to stop the networks from publicizing health news that isn’t credible. Always look to see if the website has an editorial board of medical and health experts and if qualified individuals review or write the content before it is released.

7. How Current Is the Information?

Once a website is on the Internet, it will stay there until someone removes it. Consequently, the health information that you read may not be the most up to date. Always check to see when the content was written, and if it is over a year old, whether it has been updated.

8. How Does the Site Choose Links to Other Sites?

Some medical sites don’t like to link to other sites, as they don’t have control over other sites’ credibility and content. Others do link, if they are confident that these sites meet their criteria. Some sites receive financial reimbursement from the links that they post. Don’t always assume that the link is credible.

9. What Information Is Collected About You and Why?

Websites track the pages that you click on in order to analyze their more popular topics. Sometimes, they elicit personal information such as your gender, age, and health concerns. After collecting data on your viewing selections and your personal information, they can sell this information to interested companies. These companies can create promotional materials about their goods and services targeted to your needs.

Credible sites should tell you about their privacy policy and if they will or will not give this information to other sources. A website’s privacy policy is often found in a link at the bottom of its screens.

10. How Does the Site Manage Interactions with Visitors?

You should always be able to easily find the contact information of the website’s owners should you have any concerns or questions that you want answered. If the site has a chat room or ongoing discussion group, you should know how it is moderated. Read the discussion group dialogue before you jump in.

The Take-Home Message Sound nutrition advice is based on years of research using the scientific method. You should only take nutrition advice from a credible source, such as a registered dietitian or other valid nutrition expert. When obtaining nutrition information from the Internet, you need to carefully peruse the site to make sure that it is credible, it contains up-to-date information, and its content isn’t influenced by those that fund and support the website.

 Terms:

Quackery – The promotion and selling of health products and services of questionable validity. A quack is a person who promotes these products and services in order to make money.