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Open Access Quality and Comprehensibility Analysis of Astaxanthin: Health Literacy Point of View

This article is Open Access under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND licence.

Objectives: With the exponential growth of the multibillion-dollar astaxanthin supplement industry, it is essential to assess the accuracy and clarity of information individuals encounter when searching online. In this study, we aimed to address the gap in research by analyzing the first 100 search results on Google for astaxanthin and categorizing them based on web page types. Methods: We systematically evaluated the content of the first 100 websites resulting from the search, categorizing them into academic, health professional, health news/information portal, and commercial websites. We assessed quality using JAMA benchmarks and the presence of HON Code certification. We evaluated readability using the Flesch Reading Ease Score, the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, the Fog Scale, and the SMOG Index.Results: Among the 93 websites meeting inclusion criteria, health news/information portals (45%) and commercial websites (38%) predominated. Mean JAMA benchmark scores were low, indicating suboptimal quality. JAMA scores of web pages showed statistically significant differences according to web page category. Readability scores demonstrated similar levels of complexity across web page categories. Conclusions: Quality indicators revealed potential gaps in information credibility, and readability scores indicated consistent comprehensibility across different web page types. The findings underscore the need for careful evaluation of online information sources in the context of health literacy.

Keywords: ANTIOXIDANTS; ASTAXANTHIN; HEALTH LITERACY; ONLINE HEALTH INFORMATION

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Biophysics, Ankara Medipol University, Altindağ, Ankara, Turkey 2: Department of Physiology, Ankara Medipol University, Department of Physiology, Altindağ, Ankara, Turkey

Publication date: December 1, 2023

This article was made available online on December 31, 2023 as a Fast Track article with title: "Quality and Comprehensibility Analysis of Astaxanthin: Health Literacy Point of View".

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  • The American Journal of Health Behavior seeks to improve the quality of life through multidisciplinary health efforts in fostering a better understanding of the multidimensional nature of both individuals and social systems as they relate to health behaviors.

    The Journal aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the impact of personal attributes, personality characteristics, behavior patterns, social structure, and processes on health maintenance, health restoration, and health improvement; to disseminate knowledge of holistic, multidisciplinary approaches to designing and implementing effective health programs; and to showcase health behavior analysis skills that have been proven to affect health improvement and recovery.

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