Marie Marquis and Caroline Dubeau
The purpose of this study is to examine the potential of the internet to address nutrition topics.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the potential of the internet to address nutrition topics.
Design/methodology/approach
From a survey posted on the Dietitians of Canada Website, 870 questionnaires were retained. Subjects indicated how frequently they used different sources to obtain information on healthy eating and what level of confidence they had in these sources. They also identified nutrition topics which were of the most interest to them.
Findings
Internet was reported to be often used as a source of nutrition information by 40 per cent of respondents, from time to time by 47 per cent of respondents and rarely or never by 14 per cent of them. In terms of credibility, 34 per cent of respondents reported being very confident in internet as a source of nutrition information, 62 per cent being slightly confident and 4 per cent being not confident at all. Findings were obtained between nutrition topics, frequency of use of the Web as a source of information and the level of confidence in the internet.
Research limitations/implications:
Future research on differences in terms of how populations from different countries search for and assess the credibility of nutrition information on the Web is required.
Originality/value
Among the possible ways of informing consumers on food and nutrition issues properly and in time, the Web technologies represent an interesting avenue. However, our findings suggest that specific nutrition topics dictate different strategies if internet can be used as a source of information.