The online world is buzzing with health claims—some helpful, others misleading. From miracle supplements to fad diets, it can be hard to separate fact from fiction. As a dietitian with over 25 years of experience, I’ve seen how this amount of nutritional misinformation can create confusion.
Let me help you navigate it with my top five tips.
If it sounds too good to be true – it usually is!
The online world if rife with fad diets, quick fixes and sensationalised claims. Real change takes time, consistency and you probably already know what you would be the best course of action. I think this quote from Atomic Habits by James Clear sums it up perfectly
“Use what you already know. People are so busy searching for a shortcut — or hoping an easier path will reveal itself — they let numerous moments slip by when they could get results simply by doing what is right in front of them.”
Tone of the language used
Fear-mongering, advising you cut out entire food groups, labelling certain food as toxic and my personal favourite – if you can’t pronounce it you shouldn’t be eating it!
Anyone using these kind of tactics should be avoided at all costs, they are most probably not giving out evidence based nutritional advice.
Who is giving out the information?
Do a little bit of digging behind the person or organisation making those claims. As discussed in my article, Why Work with a Dietitian, Dietitians are the only health professional regulated by law and have a similar ethical code as doctors. You can read the article here.
Reputable, well known organisations often employ Dietitians or qualified nutritionists to provide their dietary information. Also, there has in recent times been guests on some well respected podcasts, sometimes those hosted by medical professionals who have been in my opinion downright dangerous. I view giving a platform to these people as unethical and I was really disappointed in their choice of guests.
Just because they cite research papers……………..
To truly be able to interpretate the relevance of a research paper takes a robust understanding of statistics, and also the ability to discern the relevance. The research paper that concluded aspartame gave you cancer – was conducted on RATS! Yet it was taken by the media and sensationalised.
The Womens Health Study (WHI) reported HRT gave women breast cancer had numerous flaws in it and yet still to this day some women will not consider HRT for their menopausal symptoms because of how it was communicated.
If the source you are looking at states that it is using a research paper here are my top tips to make sure what you are looking at can be trusted
- Has it been conducted using humans – not animals and not in vitro (put simply it means it was conducted in a test tube or petri dish)
- Who provided the funding for it? Was there a conflict of interest and was this noted.
- Peer-reviewed – this means that other experts in the field have reviewed it. It gives the papers some authority as being trustworthy.
Cross reference
Look for other trustworthy sources of the same information. If more than one person or organisation is giving out the same information the chances of it being greater are correct.
Often looking for advice from .gov organisations is a good place to start
The online world can be a really valuable tool in accessing nutritional information however it is crucial to approach it with a critical mindset, your health is too important to be left to the uncertainties of the virtual world. Remember when it comes to nutrition a personalised, evidence-based approach is the key to long-term well-being.
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If you’re feeling overwhelmed, consulting a qualified dietitian will create a personalised plan tailored to your unique lifestyle. My inbox is always open at hello@inspiritdiet.co.uk