Health and Nutrition Course Guide-Marie Glossen: Getting Started

MythBusters: Fact or Fiction

How well can you recognize common food myths?

Test your knowledge using the "Food and Fallacies" Quiz from the Discovery Channel's MythBusters show.

These days it is easy to find health information; it's literally at your fingertips. Every day hundreds of people find health related information online from sources such as WebMD. According to Alexa.com, approximately 776 people visited WebMD.com yesterday. Another popular source for health information is television. Many people find health information from television talk shows or commercials advertising health and exercise products.

As easy as it is to find health information it becomes essential to have the skills necessary to evaluate that information. Is the Internet really the best place to find accurate health information? That depends!

Consider the following chart when doing health-related research.

Reliable Sources for Health Information

• National organizations
  • Examples of government organizations (.gov domain): CDC, NIH, HHS, and WHO
    
  • Examples of health and fitness related organizations (.org domain): ADA, AHA, ACS, and ACSM
    • Position statements or papers
    • Guidelines and recommendations
    • Newsletters
      
    • Research articles
• Scientific journals
  • Refereed or Peer Reviewed
  • Evidence-based research
  • Meta-analysis
• Expert opinion
  • Credentials
  • Published Research
  • Presentations at state, regional and national conferences
  • Other evidence of ongoing professional development
• Practitioners in the field
  
  • Physicians
  • Dietitians
    
  • Nurse practitioners
    
  • Exercise physiologists
  • Health educators
• Higher education
  • Other university-based resources such as websites (.edu domain)

Popular Sources for Health Information that can be less than Reliable

• Internet
• Newspaper articles
• Magazines
• Television/radio