Citation
(1999), "Food on the Web 11", British Food Journal, Vol. 101 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/bfj.1999.070101bag.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 1999, MCB UP Limited
Food on the Web 11
This article reviews a number of Web sites which focus on matters concerned with human nutrition. The first three sites reviewed are principally collections of links to information provided on Web sites operated by other organisations. The fourth review focuses on an American University's agricultural extension services which include a significant consumer-related nutrition element. Then, there is a review of a site which will provide access to a number of nutritional science journals produced for the Nutrition Society whose site is also reviewed. The last Web site reviewed is that of the British Neutron Foundation which, for many, provides the link between the food industry and nutrition in the UK. Finally, the article provides a brief summary of some of the nutrition-related Web sites reviewed in earlier articles in this series.
Web site reviews
Tufts University - nutrition navigator
This is a general access site for those seeking information on a wide range of nutrition topics provided by the Centre on Nutrition Communication in Tufts University's School of Nutrition Science and Policy.
However, what makes the site especially interesting and useful is that Tufts has developed a rating system which gives each Web site reviewed a score out of a possible 25 points. The scoring system was developed by an Advisory Board of respected nutritional scientists (listed on the site) and the score is derived on the basis of a number of parameters:
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Content: this is divided into four parts:
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Nutrition accuracy - scientific accuracy - scores 1-5;
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Nutrition accuracy - compliance with generally accepted dietary advice - scores 1-5;
(A site which scores less than 6 with respect to the nutrition accuracy parameters is automatically rated as "not recommended").
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Depth of nutrition information - scores 1-7;
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Date last updated - scores 1-3;
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Usability - scores 1-5.
All Web sites included are automatically reassessed on a quarterly basis.
The site provides full details of its assessment criteria and offers those with responsibility for nutrition related sites to submit their details for review and possible inclusion.
The home page for the site provides a choice of options each targeted on a particular type of likely user:
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Parents;
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Journalists;
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Health professionals;
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Educators;
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Women;
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"Kids".
The choices also include:
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General nutrition;
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Special nutrition needs;
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"Hot topics";
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New sites.
There is also a search facility.
Since Tufts is an American University, it is inevitable that the majority of sites reviewed to date originate in North America.
Tufts has begun to answer one of the key criticisms of the Internet as an information source; on the Internet it is generally fairly easy to access web sites but often not so easy to determine the accuracy of the information presented and the status and credibility of the originators; this is particularly a difficulty for students who are still developing their information skills.
The URL for the Tufts site home page is as follows: http//navigator/tufts.edu/
Food and nutrition information centre
This site is also a significant and very extensive gateway site rather than merely displaying in-house information.
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The site provides direct links to a wide range of information pages which have been produced by the Centre; these links are arranged as an alphabetical list of approaching 100 topics.
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It also offers links to hundreds of other sites provided by other information suppliers which range from university nutrition departments to professional organisations to government agencies.
Since the Food and Nutrition Information Centre (FNIC) is a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) initiative, it cannot be surprising that the majority of sites to which links are made are in the USA.
The URL for this site is http://www.nalusda.gov/fnic/
Kings College, University of London
Staff at Kings College, London have also established a Web site with links to a range of nutrition resources. This is more limited than the US sources cited above but includes some links to UK sites, including to UK Government and EU sources of information.
The URL is http://www.kcl.ac.uk/kis/schools/life_sciences/health/nutrition/Nutr_Res.htm
The key difference between the Kings site and that of the US sites earlier is one of objectives. The Kings is primarily internally focused on the requirements of its students while (for example) FNIC is in effect a part of a Government department with national public information objectives.
Kansas State University
The Web site provided by K-State Research and Extension covers a very wide range of topics concerned with food and agriculture. The site has been created primarily as a part of the service which the University provides to the farmers and other members of rural communities in Kansas but is accessible world-wide.
The URL given below leads to a detailed table of contents which leads to other areas of this extensive site. Three links are of particular interest:
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Within the Library section, the Food and Nutrition link leads to a substantial publications catalogue. Most of the items listed can be downloaded in Adobe Acrobat (.PDF) format. The catalogue is organised in to themes including:
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Food safety;
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Consumer food management;
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Nutrition;
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Modified special diets;
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Commercial food processing.
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Most publications are consumer or small producer oriented. Whilst some publications are specific to the USA (for example explaining American food labels) most have international relevance.
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Within the Departments and Units section, the Food and Nutrition link leads to a further list of publications, links to 350 other nutrition sites and information on other nutrition topics.
The "Special Pages" include a home page on food safety with links to further information on this topic.
The URL is http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/root/toc/Nutrition CABWeb
This site is maintained by CAB Publishing, the organisation which publishes a range of nutritional science journals in collaboration with the Nutrition Society. As with other publishers of academic journals, CAB are moving towards electronic on-line publishing and are in early 1999 making elements of their portfolio of nutrition titles available via the Internet. Full access is restricted to those holding subscriptions to the printed editions but abstracts from the primary research journals will be available to all.
At the time of writing this article (December 1998), only one journal (British Journal of Nutrition) is available via this route but the full portfolio is timetabled to be available by June 1999. The journals concerned are: British Journal of Nutrition; Nutrition Research Reviews; Public Health Nutrition; Proceedings of the Nutrition Society; Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews (Series A); Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews (Series B);
The URL is http://nutrition.cabweb.org
This site provides a primary link to the Nutrition Society (see below).
The Nutrition Society
This is the principal UK academic society concerned with the scientific study of nutrition and its application to the maintenance of human and animal health.
The Nutrition Society's web site provides information about:
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Membership;
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Groups within the Nutrition Society;
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Meetings;
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Publications;
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Careers in nutrition.
The site also includes a page of links. The links are to other learned societies; government, NGO and research institute sites and to nutrition "gateway" sites.
The URL is http://www.nutsoc.org.uk/
British Nutrition Foundation
The British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) was established in 1967 and exists to provide an impartial interpretation of nutritional knowledge and a channel for the dissemination of this knowledge. The Foundation works in partnership with academic and research groups, the food industry, educators and government.
The BNF Web site covers links to all of the foundation's many activities; these include publication of briefing papers, the work of BNF Task Forces, conferences, educational initiatives and BNF commentary on current nutritional issues.
A "history" section of the Web site summarises the key BNF events and activities since its establishment.
The URL to access the BNF is http://www.nutrition.org.uk/
Concluding comment
This article has made reference to Web sites which have a focus on human nutrition - readers are also reminded that previous articles in this series have already drawn attention to a number of other sites with a specific nutritional focus: the table provides a quick reminder of some of these sites (Table I).
Table 1Examples of nutrition web sites reviewed in earlier editions of British Food Journal
If you have identified a Web site likely to be of interest to readers of British Food Journal please contact the author of this series of articles as follows: by e-mail to stephen.fallows@luton.ac.uk fax to 01234 766926 or 01582 743237 by post at the University of Luton.
Dr Stephen FallowsUniversity of Luton