Qualitative Analysis of Food and Nutrition Informations on the Internet

인터넷 사이트 식품영양정보의 질적 평가

This study carried out to assess the quality of the information presented on the internet about nutrition specifically in the field of health functional food by monitoring with 10 panels from May, 2004 to October. Four hundred seven relevant websites were initially selected from a process using 5 search engines and the keywords ‘food’ and ‘nutrition’, and 404 sites actually met all inclusion criteria. Most of the sites evaluated 219 (54.20%) were commercial sites and then distributed noncommercial organization site 93 (23.0%), individual site 92(22.8%). Assessment quality indicator was carried out using the 17 necessary requisites, which has been developed to enable users and information providers to judge the quality of food and nutrition information. The mean score for quality grade was 11.07, five site out of a maximum score of 17 and two sites with the lowest total scores for the quality of food and nutrition information. Noncommercial organization site assessed achieved the highest score in accurate and useful informations to the public. Low ranked sites had the most inaccurate or misleading information, emphasizing only the positive aspects of the information, with little or no evidence. Many commercial sites used personal testimony as the most popular ‘proof’ for the effectiveness of product. This was anecdotal rather than scientific evidence based on which the objective validation was difficult to be made. Therefore, it can be challenging for both public and health professionals, to sort out useful information from a plethora of advertisements and promotions on the web sites. Our results suggest that nutrition professionals should talk about useful information of health, food and nutrition with public and help them find the best available information when using the internet.