Sources of Information about Health Foods among Elderly People-Comparison of Internet and Paper Survey Results

The prevalence of health foods is increasing in Japan, especially among elderly people. The internet is widely used as an information source, but it is not clear whether elderly people get information about health foods via the internet or not. To clarify this issue, we conducted two questionnaire surveys; one on a website (internet survey) and one in the local community (paper survey). The internet survey showed that a lot of elderly people use the internet to get information and also to purchase health foods. On the other hand, paper survey showed that a smaller proportion of elderly people used the internet, compared to the internet survey. Instead, they got information from their friends, health-care professionals, or various media sources, such as television, newspapers and magazines. Our results indicate that many elderly people don't use the internet to get information about health foods. Adequate ways to inform them about health foods are needed to reduce adverse events associated with health food use.