Potential of the internet to address topics of interest in nutrition

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 ...