Survey Rates Magazines' Health Reporting

By ACSH Staff — Mar 14, 2007
A March 14, 2007 piece on the website of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review describes ACSH's survey of Nutritional Accuracy in Popular Magazines:

A March 14, 2007 piece on the website of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review describes ACSH's survey of Nutritional Accuracy in Popular Magazines:

The American Council on Science and Health's most recent survey of nutrition coverage in popular magazines indicates that readers can get more reliable nutrition information from consumer-oriented magazines than from other types, including those that supposedly specialize in "health" information.

The survey -- the council's 10th -- covered magazines published in 2004 and 2005. One publication -- "Consumer Reports" -- was ranked as "excellent," 15 as "good," four as "fair" and one as "poor."

Nutrition and food experts rated 10 randomly selected articles from each of 21 popular magazines for provision of factual information, objective presentation of information, and presentation of sound nutritional recommendations.

Scoring just a few points below the "excellent" category are "Glamour," "Ladies' Home Journal" and "Shape." Lower in the "good" category are "Child," "Parents," "Woman's Day," "Cooking Light," "Fitness," "Redbook," "Runner's World," "Self," "Good Housekeeping," "Health," "Better Homes and Gardens" and "Prevention." Rated "fair" are "Reader's Digest," "Men's Health," "Cosmopolitan" and "Muscle and Fitness." "Men's Fitness" was the only magazine that placed in the "poor" category.