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Alzheimer’s Disease Dietary Supplements in Websites

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Abstract

Consumer demand for health information and health services has rapidly evolved to capture and even propel the movement to online health information seeking. Seventeen percent (52 million) of health information internet users will look for information about memory loss, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) (Fox Pew Internet & American life project: Online health search. Report. Pew Research Center. http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2006/Online-Health-Search-2006.aspx 2006, Pew Research Center. http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/HealthTopics.aspx 2011). We examined the content of the 25 most frequently retrieved websites marketing AD dietary supplements. We found that the majority of websites and their products claimed AD-related benefits, including improvement and enhancement of function, treatment for AD, prevention of AD, maintenance of function, delayed progression of AD, and decreased symptoms. Supplements were described as effective, natural, powerful or strong, dependable and pure or of high quality. Peer reviewed references to proper scientific studies were infrequent on websites. Statements highlighting the risks of dietary supplements were as common as statements mitigating or minimizing these risks. Different strategies were used to promote supplements such as popular appeals and testimonials. Further enforcement of relevant policy is needed and preparation of clinicians to deal with requests of patients and caregivers is indicated.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank members of the Neuroethics Research Unit for helpful feedback on a previous version of this manuscript as well as Ms. Allison Yan for editorial assistance. Support for this research comes from the Social Sciences Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Quebec.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no financial conflicts of interest in the research presented in this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroethics Research Unit, Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal, 110 avenue des Pins Ouest, Montreal, QC, H2W lR7, Canada

    Nicole Palmour, Brandy L. Vanderbyl, Emma Zimmerman & Eric Racine

  2. The McGill Center for Studies in Aging, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Serge Gauthier

  3. Department of Medicine and Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Eric Racine

  4. Division of Experimental Medicine & Biomedical Ethics Unit, Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Eric Racine

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  1. Nicole Palmour
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  4. Serge Gauthier
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  5. Eric Racine
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Correspondence to Eric Racine.

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Palmour, N., Vanderbyl, B.L., Zimmerman, E. et al. Alzheimer’s Disease Dietary Supplements in Websites. HEC Forum 25, 361–382 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10730-013-9217-1

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