How to foster informed decision making about food supplements: results from an international Delphi study

Background An accurate understanding of dietary supplements (DS) is a prerequisite for informed decisions regarding their intake. However, there is a need for studies on this understanding among the public based on validated research tools. Objective This study aims to assess the knowledge about DS among Polish internet users with no medical education and to identify its determinants and design an appropriate predictive model. Methods The study protocol was prospectively registered with a statistical analysis plan. Polish users of a web-based health service and a social networking service were administered a survey consisting of the recently developed questionnaire on knowledge about DS, the questionnaire on trust in advertising DS, the beliefs about medicines questionnaire, and several other health-related single-item measures and sociodemographic questions. The results were subjected to general linear modeling. Results A total of 6273 participants were included. Of the 17 yes or no questions in the questionnaire of knowledge about DS, the mean number of correct responses was 9.0 (95% CI 8.9-9.1). Health service users performed worse than social networking users by 2.3 points (95% CI 2.1-2.5) in an analysis adjusted for potential confounders. Internet users had fewer true beliefs about DS if they presented higher trust in their advertising (adjusted β=−.37; 95% CI −.39 to −.34), used DS (adjusted β=−.14; 95% CI −.17 to −.12), experienced their positive effect (adjusted β=−.16; 95% CI −.18 to −.13), were older or younger than 35 years (adjusted β=−.14; 95% CI −.17 to −.12), expressed interest in the topic of DS (adjusted β=−.10; 95% CI −.13 to −.08), reported getting information about the products from friends (adjusted β=−.13; 95% CI −.15 to −.11), and believed that medicines are harmful (adjusted β=−.12; 95% CI −.15 to −.10). The proposed 5-predictor model could explain 31.2% of the variance in knowledge about DS. The model appeared resistant to overfitting and was able to forecast most of the observed associations. Conclusions Polish internet users with no medical education exhibit some false beliefs regarding DS. Trusting the advertising of DS appears to conflict with knowledge about them. There is an urgent need for effective web-based educational campaigns on DS and the promotion of advertising literacy. After the proposed predictive model is externally validated, it may help identify the least informed target audience.

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Determinants of Knowledge About Dietary Supplements Among Polish Internet Users: Nationwide Cross-sectional Study (Preprint)

Karbownik¹,

Horne²,

Paul³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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BACKGROUND Having true beliefs about dietary supplements is a prerequisite for informed decision regarding their intake. However, there is a need for studies of the public understanding of dietary supplements based on validated research tools. OBJECTIVE To assess knowledge about dietary supplements in Polish Internet users with no medical education, to identify its determinants and design an appropriate predictive model. METHODS Study protocol with statistical analysis plan was prospectively registered. Polish users of an online health service and a social networking service were administered a survey consisting of the recently-developed Questionnaire on Knowledge about Dietary Supplements, Questionnaire on Trust in Advertising Dietary Supplements, Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire, as well as several other health related single-item measures and sociodemographic questions. The results were subjected to general linear modeling. RESULTS In total, 6273 participants were included. Out of 17 yes/no questions in the Questionnaire of Knowledge about Dietary Supplements, the mean number of correct responses was 9.0 (95% CI: 8.9 to 9.1). Health service users performed worse than social networking ones by 2.3 (95% CI: 2.1 to 2.5) points in an analysis adjusted for potential confounders. Internet users had less true beliefs about dietary supplements if they presented higher trust in their advertising (adjusted β: -.37, 95% CI: -.39 to -.34), used dietary supplements (adjusted β: -.14, 95% CI: -.17 to -.12), experienced their positive effect (adjusted β: -.16, 95% CI: -.18 to -.13), were older or younger than 35 (adjusted β: -.14, 95% CI: -.17 to -.12), interested in the topic of dietary supplements (adjusted β: -.10, 95% CI: -.13 to -.08), reported getting information about the products from friends (adjusted β: -.13, 95% CI: -.15 to -.11), believed that medicines are harmful (adjusted β: -.12, 95% CI: -.15 to -.10). The proposed 5-predictor model could explain 31.2% of variance in knowledge about dietary supplements. The model appeared resistant to overfitting and was able to forecast the majority of the observed associations. CONCLUSIONS Polish Internet users with no medical education exhibit some false beliefs regarding dietary supplements. Trusting in advertising dietary supplements appears in conflict with having knowledge about them. There is an urgent need for effective online educational campaigns about dietary supplements and promotion of advertising literacy. The proposed predictive model, after being externally validated, may help identify the least informed target audience. CLINICALTRIAL Open Science Framework, https://osf.io/5e92d/

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How to foster informed decision making about food supplements: results from an international Delphi study

Cited by 3 publications

References 34 publications

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Determinants of Knowledge About Dietary Supplements Among Polish Internet Users: Nationwide Cross-sectional Study

Determinants of Knowledge About Dietary Supplements Among Polish Internet Users: Nationwide Cross-sectional Study (Preprint)

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