More Than Half of Americans Get Health Advice Online, Poll Finds

Do you believe everything you read on the Internet? If so, a new survey finds that you are not alone; Fifty-nine percent of Americans follow health and nutrition advice found on the Internet, despite the fact that only 41 percent believe it's true. This means that even though they aren't sure they believe the information, nearly half of Americans are making health and nutrition decisions based on Internet data, regardless of the source.

Poll Numbers Breakdown

Numbers indicate that more than two-thirds of Americans obtain information from the Internet according to results from a recent Opinion Research Corporation poll of 1,000 individuals. Eighty-two percent of those people are specifically seeking health and nutrition advice, but among that group, only 62 percent believe its accuracy. Still, 89 percent indicate following the advice that they found.

Analyzing the poll numbers by the total number of those who claim to look for Information on the Internet reveals the following three facts:

1. 54 percent of Internet information seekers look for health and nutrition advice.

2. Only 41 percent believe what they read is in fact accurate.

3. Yet 59 percent follow the advice regardless.

In some ways, the only real surprise is that the numbers are this low due to the proliferation of information available 24 hours a day on the Internet.

Medical Community Reaction

How many times a day must physicians be confronted with the statement "I read it on the Internet" and then enter into a conversation about whether or not the statement is valid. Apparently quite a few, depending on the age range of the patient.

"In a lot of ways the Internet is a giant medical advertisement for anything new or controversial. People get more informed faster, but may not have all of the necessary information based on what they find online," said a pediatrician in Gales Ferry, CT. "What the Internet often does is feed into parents' own anxieties that they then move onto their children."