Not Google, approach experts to sort out your health issues, say doctors

With Nutrition week having started on Saturday, doctors and other health experts stress on the need for the public to have better knowledge on nutrition and whom should they approach for advice regarding health issues, rather than searching it up on Google.

Social media has a solution for everything, ranging from weight gain and loss, to ways to check deficiencies. However, it is filled with shortcut methods, says nutritionists. “It is important to note that whatever you find on Google is not necessarily evidence-based. Everything is tested by some random person. It is not necessary that it has been tested under an expert’s supervision,” said dietician Meenakshi Bajaj.

 

Stressing on the need to be wary of such advice, she said, “Any random person who has not specialised in nutrition must not give advice on this topic. There are a few who genuinely who take special interest in helping others with their nutrition needs. It is important to identify them and approach them. The sad part is that we do not have a council which can monitor such non-experts giving advices on social media. Throwing around such advice without having any knowledge on the same is nothing but quackery and it is best to avoid such people.”

Citing an example, she said, “There are people who offer advice on paleo diet, through WhatsApp. There was this one particular case in Salem where someone had put up tips for paleo diet on WhatsApp. However, it basically had tips for a keto diet, which is very different from paleo diet.”

Due to the lack of awareness, lay persons find it very difficult to identify a genuine advice. Stressing on the need for well qualified persons, such as nutritionists, to encourage people to be well informed about avoiding such fake advices, a health activist said, “One of the biggest challenges in nutrition in Tamil Nadu is anaemia. There are many who follow advices they find on Google, like those on how to prevent anaemia or other problems. Nowadays, as whatever we eat is causing health issues, it is highly important to keep a check on what we eat.”

Be it a weight loss or weight gain tips, there are basic factors that needs to be looked into, which the nutritionists are trained to do, said Meenakshi.

 

“Factors like the individual’s family history, age, body type and the like, must all be considered before prescribing nutrition advice. In many cases, however, there are doctors, not nutritionists, who give out nutritional advice. On the other hand, there are gym trainers, who think they can give nutritional advices. This must be avoided and the public must be aware of the dangers of taking advice from random people,” she added.