Characteristic Analysis of Internet nutrition Counseling Served by the Korean Society of Community Nutrition

Lee, Joung Won; Ly, Sun Yung; Kim, Kyeung Eun

Abstract

An analysis for a period of 15 months (from September 2000 to November 2001), of the nutrition counseling internet site, "Dietnet" served by the Korean Society of Community Nutrition, showed the following results. Nutrition counseling was conducted without charge by 50 professionals, including professors in the food and nutritional areas, medical doctors, and dietitians. Counselees consisted of mostly females under 30 years of age. Although two thirds of the users of this site asked questions anonymously, they were very sincere. They asked questions mostly related to their own concerns, but there were quite a few inquiries about their parents or grandparents. There were significant differences in the counseling contents depending on the ages of the counselees. Teenagers showed the highest interest in height growth and weight control, whereas people in their twenties were mostly interested in diseases, foods, and weight control. Those over the thirty made inquiries mostly about diseases. The most frequent questions were relevant to gastrointestinal, circulatory and hepatic diseases. As indicated above, counseling questions included of a variety of both comprehensive and specific questions. There were also quite a few questions related to decisions on the correct usage of specific foods. Therefore, we recommend that more professionals, such as food science majors, medical doctors who practice western and oriental medicine, and other professionals who specialize in psychological behaviors related to weight control and infant food habits be recruited to serve the site more effectively and intensively. In light of the further need for internet sites with nutrition counseling and delivery of nutritional information to the public, nutritionists capable of managing websites are also required.