Melike KAPLAN DEMİRBAĞ, Barış KARADAŞ, Yusuf Cem KAPLAN, Ömer DEMİR

Online weight loss supplement market and public health: An analysis of Turkish websites marketing weight loss supplements

Amaç. İnternet, zayıflatıcı gıda takviyelerinin temininde öncelikli bir araç haline gelmeyebaşlamıştır. İnternetin kontrol edilmesi güç yapısı ve halkın bu takviyelere olan ilgisidüşünüldüğünde, zayıflatıcı gıda takviyelerini pazarlayan web sitelerinden tüketiciye iletilenbilginin halk sağlığı açısından ne kadar önemli olduğu anlaşılacaktır. Bu çalışmada, zayıflatıcıgıda takviyelerini pazarlayan Türkçe içerikli internet sitelerindeki bilginin niceliksel ve nitelikselaçıdan değerlendirilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Yöntem. Bu çalışma 2009 yılının Haziran ve Ekim aylarıarasında Google arama motorunda Türkçe olarak kilo kaybı ilaç ve bitkisel kilo kaybı sözcükdizinleri kullanarak Türk halkının erişebileceği bu ürünleri pazarlayan ilk 50 web sitesinintaranması ile gerçekleştirildi Bulgular. Genel olarak web sitelerinin çoğunluğunun içerdiğibilgilerin yetersiz ve yanıltıcı olduğu gözlenmiştir. Sonuç. Tüketicilerin bu tür takviyelerin nedenolabileceği olası sağlık risklerinden korunması için atılması gereken acil ve öncelikli adımlar,tüketici farkındalığının arttırılması ve bu ürünlerin internet üzerinden pazarlanmasına getirilecekkısıtlamalardır.

Çevrimiçi zayıf latıcı gıda takviyesi p azarı ve halk sağlığı: Zayıf latıcı gıda takviyesi p azarlayan Türkçe içerikli internet sitelerinin değerlendirilmesi

Aim. The Internet is becoming the primary tool of purchasing weight loss supplements since it iseasily accessible to the consumers. When the uncontrollable nature of the Internet and the public sgeneral tendency to use these supplements are considered together, the information conveyed togeneral audience in such websites become of great importance in the context of public health. Thisstudy aimed to analyze the quality and the quantity of the information conveyed to the consumersby Turkish websites marketing weight loss supplements. Method. This study was carried outbetween June and October, 2009. and a keyword search with the search query strings weight lossdrug and herbal weight loss in Turkish conducted using Google to found websites of first 50results of each search which were in Turkish and accessible to Turkish people and marketing theseproducts Results. In majority of the websites, the information provided was found to beinadequate and misleading. Conclusion. Raising the public awareness and bringing restrictions ofonline marketing of these kinds of supplements are the urgent priorities to protect consumers frompossible health risks.

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