Perceived Reliability Of Selected Nutrition Information Sources and the Utilization of Those Sources by College Students.

Abstract

Perceived reliability and the extent to which various sources of nutrition information are utilized have not been examined. Students enrolled in introductory nutrition courses at a large urban university (n=161), land-grant university (n=238), and private university (n=326) in Texas were asked to participate. Subjects (n=725) completed a questionnaire which assessed the perceived reliability of 27 nutrition information sources using a 5-point Likert scale (1=very reliable to 5=very unreliable). The extent to which those sources had been consulted for nutrition advice within the previous three-month period also was investigated. Comparisons between male and female subjects and among subjects by university were investigated using Student's T-test and ANOVA, respectively with SPSS. Subjects rated the registered dietitian (RD), physician, nurse, personal trainer, pharmacist, and food labels as “reliable” sources of nutrition information. Massage therapists, home economists, acupuncturists, and television programs were rated, on average, as “unreliable”. However, females identified home economist, the Internet, nurses, pharmacists, and religious/spiritual groups as being a more reliable compared to their male counterparts (P<0.05). Despite the perceived reliability of the RD, only 6% of subjects consulted a RD for nutrition advice within the previous three-month period. Many sources of information were utilized more often than the RD including popular nutrition books (21%), coach (16%), health food store employee (18%), the Internet (14%), fashion magazines (41%), physician (24%), pharmacist 15%, and personal trainer (17%). Results of this study raise several questions: 1) How accessible are RDs to college students? 2) Why is the perceived reliability of RDs coupled with a low usage rate? and 3) How reliable is the nutrition information provided by these less reliable but often used sources?