Information sources on nutrition and health used by students from a private university in the city of São Paulo, Brazil
Keywords:
nutrition, information, communications mediaAbstract
The public interest in the issue of nutrition and health is reflected in its coverage by the media and it is stimulated by this reporting. To identify the information sources on this subject and to evaluate their credibility, a survey was conducted in a sample of 894 university students. Questions about the frequency of use and the credibility of a number of sources were included, the most important ones were identified. Three of them are regularly used: family (27.6%), food and supplements labels (27.6%), and medical doctors (26.5%). Doctors and nutritionists are trusted by the majority: 80.1% and 77.0%, respectively. The sources considered the most important were magazines (73.5%), doctors (42.1%) and television programs (33.9%). The findings indicate the importance of the magazines: they are frequently used, relatively trusted and considered the main vehicle by the majority. Although presenting lower credibility, television programs and food and supplements labels also constitute influential sources, as they are frequently used.
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