Assessment of quality and readability of internet dietary information on irritable bowel syndrome

Authors: ALFARO-CRUZ, LIGIA - Baylor College Of Medicine; KAUL, ISHA - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC); ZHANG, YAN - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC); SHULMAN, ROBERT - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC); CHUMPITAZI, BRUNO - Baylor College Of Medicine

Submitted to: Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/22/2018
Publication Date: 2/1/2019
Citation: Alfaro-Cruz, L., Kaul, I., Zhang, Y., Shulman, R.J., Chumpitazi, B.P. 2019. Assessment of quality and readability of internet dietary information on irritable bowel syndrome. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. 17(3):566-567. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cgh.2018.05.018.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cgh.2018.05.018

Interpretive Summary: Diet plays an important role in determining whether children and adults with common gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have symptoms. Most people get their information from the internet. In this study we examined the quality of the internet information about diet for people with IBS. We found that most of the information was of poor quality with only a small proportion being accurate and easily understood by the average person. The results of this research show a great need to improve the quality and readability of information on the internet about diet for gut disorders such as IBS.

Technical Abstract: Diet plays an important role for patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). For medical conditions such as IBS, the internet is a primary source of health information. However, recent evidence suggests Internet health information may have several flaws including being: extremely discrepant, of poor quality, and inaccurate. Therefore, our objectives were to evaluate both the quality and reading level of Internet dietary recommendations for both pediatric and adult IBS.