Nutrition Interests of FSU Students, Their Preferred Information Sources and Perceived Credibility

Purpose Due to ease of access to nutritional misinformation, it becomes difficult for the public to identify credible and current information. Adding to this, many individuals have not learned how to distinguish between trustworthy and untrustworthy information sources (Wansink, 2006). This study investigated the preferred sources of nutrition information by FSU students, reasons for their preference, their belief in the reliability of these sources, students’ confidence in their ability to find credible nutrition related information. Methods Internet surveys were distributed using Qualtrics to students over 18 years old at Florida State University. Surveys were emailed to students through departmental emails and word of mouth. Data collection was completed through Qualtrics. Data analysis was completed with IBM SPSS Statistics 25 software for Windows, Version 25.0. released in 2017. Results 293 student participants (24.6% males and 75.1% females) were included in this study from at least 8 different areas of study. The top three most preferred nutrition information sources were Social Media (Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest) (12.4%), Medical Doctors (9.4%), and Nutritionists (7.6%). The most important reasons for selecting preferred sources of nutrition information included: credibility (50.17%), convenience (31.7%), and possible effectiveness (9.6%). The most credible nutrition information sources were shown to be Registered Dietitians (87.7%), Nutritionists (81.9%) and Medical Doctors (77.8%). The least credible sources of nutrition information were Celebrities (34.8%), Social Media (27.9%), and Television (25.3%). The sources which were considered to be backed by sufficient research all of the time included: Registered Dietitians (63.1%), Nutritionists (58.4%) and Medical Doctors (52.7%). Social media was one of the least credible sources and the least likely to have information backed up by sufficient research. 90.8% of the participants in this study were at least somewhat confident of their ability to find credible nutrition information. Only 6.8% of participants have passed a nutrition course in college. This group of individuals valued credibility no more than the rest of the participants. Conclusion The students studied were confident in their own ability to find credible nutrition information sources and viewed credibility of information as the most important reason when it comes to choosing nutrition information sources. They are aware of the unreliable information they get from their most preferred source which is social media, and of the availability of more reliable nutrition information sources. However, students do not choose to use sources with information supported by sufficient research, the reason for which was not explored. Further research to explore the cause of this behavior and incongruous thinking is recommended. Every college student should have evidence-based nutrition and health education.