Posted on: November 28, 2007
The Web Doctor Will See You Now
Swarms of Americans are following health and nutrition advice found on the Web. Here’s what you need to know to make sure the advice you get is good
By Jeff Schnaufer
CTW Features
If you suddenly discovered a strange pain in your stomach, where would you go to learn the cause: A doctor or a cocktail party?
According to a new survey by Opinion Research Corp., Princeton, N.J., an overwhelming number of Americans are following health and nutrition advice found on the Internet – whether they believe it or not. It’s a trend that makes some medical and nutrition experts urge caution.
“I call the Web the world’s largest cocktail party,” says Dr. Don Shifrin, a Bellevue, Wash.-based pediatrician and spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics. “You can get a lot of information at a cocktail party. The question is if it is vetted, backed up by scientific evidence, or is it anecdotal?”
Opinion Research conducted the survey, which had no association with the AAP, during June 2007. Of the more than 1,000 adults that were polled, two-thirds reported obtaining information from the Web. Eighty-two percent of those respondents were specifically seeking health and nutrition advice. Among that group, only 62 percent believed the accuracy of the advice they found, yet 89 percent followed the advice they found.
“I’ve seen tens of thousands of bad sites,” says Dr. Stephen Barrett, a retired psychiatrist living near Chapel Hill, N.C., who has been tracking reliable information sources for nearly three decades and runs Web-health watchdog sites quackwatch.org and ihealthpilot.org. “Bad advice is more common than good advice,” he says. “There are two kinds of bad advice – one is incomplete advice, and the other is inaccurate. There’s also anti-science and ‘quacky.’”
Look What I Found
“I get clients all the time in my private practice who are bringing me articles they’ve read online about nutrition, specific foods and supplements,” says Dr. Jeannie Gazzaniga-Maloo, spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, Chicago. “Many times the information just isn’t true and is very misleading.”
“We live in a Wikipedia world,” says Shifrin. “There are a lot of people out there on the Web who say, ‘If you’ve got this disease, I’ve got the answer.’ In our office, we see more people bringing in information that has not been obtained from [legitimate] health sites.”
While there are thousands upon thousands of Web sites offering information on everything from acid reflux to autism to food allergies, Shifrin suggests that patients – and parents – work with both their doctors and the Internet.
“I very often refer people to the Internet because I believe it is a great source of information for them, but I don’t want them to get lost in cyberspace,” Shifrin says. “Parent, patient, doctor and Internet should function as a team, and no one should be cut out.”
World Wide Where?
So where should you search on the Internet?
“There are good ways to do it and bad,” says Barrett. “Using a search engine is not a good way. The most important thing you should do is go to reliable sites.”
For nutritional advice, Gazzaniga-Maloo suggests that you question the content on sites that sell products, that offer lists of good and bad foods or that provide dramatic statements about foods or nutrition that are refuted by reputable scientific organizations, such as the American Dietetic Association or the American Heart Association.
For medical advice, Shifrin recommends asking your doctor for Web suggestions. Also, medical-society sites like the American Academy of Family Physicians (www.familydoctor.org), well-known hospital Web sites like the Mayo Clinic (www.mayoclinic.com) and even food allergy sites like foodallergy.org are recommended by Shifrin.
Barrett also offers links to a number of OK’d sites on his ihealthpilot site under the Comprehensive Medical Sites link.
Finally, when it comes to researching your health on the Internet, remember these words from Gazzaniga-Maloo:
“People who are misinformed may have a false sense of security about their health and well-being and may delay appropriate, effective health care or replace it with products or behaviors that may be harmful to their health.”
