A Word on Nutrition Related Documentaries

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I love documentaries. You can learn so much from them and there all kinds of topics to 
choose from. I remember watching documentaries about food in high school, but now 
it seems like they are popping up left and right. There are a decent amount of documentaries 
now that talk about a plant based diet, keto, GMOs, and so on. Not only do viewers find these 
documentaries to be informative, but they may also see them as influential. Some of my 
friends have asked me after seeing certain documentaries if they should completely change their 
diet. This makes me a little worried when people are gung ho to do a complete 180 of their 
diet overnight.  

It’s important to look at the facts first. 
  • Was there a Registered Dietitian in the documentary at any point? What did he or she 
    have to say about the topic? If a dietitian didn’t appear at all, that raises concern for the 
    credibility since RDs are the experts of nutrition. 
  • Did the documentary use research articles? It might seem legit if they do, but go the 
    extra mile and look into the actual article because chances are it might be cherry picked
  • Did the documentary seem biased? If it only talks about all the benefits, I’d be a bit 
    skeptical. Positives and negatives should both be taken into account. 



NM


Reinagel, M. (2017, August 31). "What the Health" Documentary: A Review. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ldquo-what-the-health-rdquo-documentary-a-review

Comments

  1. ELApril 12, 2020 at 6:36 PM

    This is such a frustrating topic! I definitely agree that people are influenced by documentaries, similar to how they trust any and all information on the internet. Sometimes the information is true, but it's presented in a way that's confusing or out of context, which can affect their perception of it. A lot of unreliable nutrition-related information out there also relies on testimonials, not on research or scientific evidence, which decreases the credibility. Great Post!

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