Poor-Quality Weight Loss Advice Often Appears First in an Online Search
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More than 40 percent of U.S. Internet users use online search engines to seek guidance on weight loss and physical activity.
A new study in the American Journal of Public Health finds that online searchers often initially encounter poor-quality weight loss information.
High-quality weight loss information can be found on medical, government and university websites, along with blogs, but these resources often appear lower in search engine results.
Newswise Given that obesity affects one-third of Americans, it is not surprising that more than 40 percent of U.S. Internet users use online search engines to seek guidance on weight loss and physical activity. A new study in the American Journal of Public Health finds that online searchers often initially encounter poor-quality weight loss information.
The study reveals that the first page of results, using a search engine like Google, is likely to display less reliable sites instead of more comprehensive, high-quality sites, and includes sponsored content that makes unrealistic weight loss promises.
"I've watched my family and friends seek out health information, and so often I think, 'Where do they get that stuff?'" said lead study author Franois Modave, PhD, chair of the Department of Computer Science at Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss. "Since the first links that appear on an Internet search, regardless of the topic, receive nearly 90 percent of all clicks," Modave observed, "this steers consumers to substandard information."
"Federal agencies, academic institutions and medical organizations need to work a lot harder at search engine optimization to get their links on top of searches," Modave added. "Consumers need to be more critical when reading online. Ideally, they could read original studies from which many stories are written but, of course, that's not realistic for most people."
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Poor-Quality Weight Loss Advice Often Appears First in an Online Search