Diet-Nutrition Information Seeking, Source Trustworthiness, and Eating Behavior Changes: An International Web-Based Survey

Abstract

To understand the extent to which different sources of diet and nutrition information are sought, trusted, and relied upon for making dietary changes, the present international web-based survey study gauged participants’ (n = 3419) diet-nutrition information-seeking behaviors from 22 interpersonal and general sources with varying quality, trust levels in these sources, and reliance on each source for making dietary changes. Qualitative insights were also captured regarding trustworthiness formation. The results revealed a disconnect between source popularity and perceived trustworthiness. While nutrition–health websites, Google–Internet searches, and diet–health books were most commonly consulted, participants placed the highest level of trust in nutrition scientists, nutrition professionals, and scientific journals, suggesting that frequent information seeking from a subpar source may not be a reliable predictor of the level of trust assigned to it. Although the frequency of source-seeking behaviors and source trustworthiness both contributed to dietary changes, the latter appeared to have a more pronounced influence. When a source was less trusted, there was a reduced likelihood of relying on it for changing diet. Additionally, source seeking may not always translate into effective dietary change, as shown by the less strong correlation between the two. These associations significantly differed depending on the source.

Prevalence and Correlates of Dietary and Nutrition Information Seeking Through Various Web-Based and Offline Media Sources Among Japanese Adults: Web-Based Cross-Sectional Study (Preprint)

“…However, to our knowledge, dietary and nutrition information seeking using various web-based and offline media sources has not yet been explored in the context of food literacy and diet quality. Taken together, the above findings indicate that very little is known about people's information-seeking behavior toward healthy eating and its potential consequences [47]. For potential correlates of dietary and nutrition information seeking, this study particularly focused on health literacy [48], food literacy [49], and diet quality [50][51][52], all of which were assessed using validated tools, as well as important sociodemographic variables (sex, age, and education level) [12,22,26,28,29,33,36,37,53,54].…”

Prevalence and Correlates of Dietary and Nutrition Information Seeking Through Various Web-Based and Offline Media Sources Among Japanese Adults: Web-Based Cross-Sectional Study

“…However, to our knowledge, dietary and nutrition information seeking using various web-based and offline media sources has not yet been explored in the context of food literacy and diet quality. Taken together, the above findings indicate that very little is known about people’s information-seeking behavior toward healthy eating and its potential consequences [ 47 ]. For potential correlates of dietary and nutrition information seeking, this study particularly focused on health literacy [ 48 ], food literacy [ 49 ], and diet quality [ 50 - 52 ], all of which were assessed using validated tools, as well as important sociodemographic variables (sex, age, and education level) [ 12 , 22 , 26 , 28 , 29 , 33 , 36 , 37 , 53 , 54 ].…”