Is the Internet irreparably broken? Judging by what we are seeing on Diettalk.com the disquieting answer is possibly: Yes. Good medical and health information used to be plentiful on the Net as hospitals, clinics and universities placed an abundance of reputable and scientifically-validated information on their websites. People seeking health advice were faced with a tidal wave of information about health. But in the last few years, that has changed.
Diettalk.com may be a taste of what health information will look like in the future. And it has a decidedly sour taste. There is a lot to recommend at diettalk.com. It has a plethora of well-researched, albeit brief, articles about all manner of health and medicine. Most of the articles we reviewed were accurate and easily understood. If readers limited their use of the site for health information, alone, we would be comfortable recommending it as a resource.
HOWEVER, one of the categories at Diettalk.com is called “Reviews“. And this section is a toxic stew of Internet health scams that we’ve researched extensively. It is made up largely of infoscammers who are looking to exploit and overcharge unsuspecting consumers. Most all of these “infoscams” use the same marketing techniques — playing on fear, uncertainty and conspiracies — to get you to cough up $20, $30 or $40. Some will offer their product for as low as $1 because they want to ensnare unsuspecting consumers into their “upselling” machine. They are in full display at diettalk.com. How discouraging!
For example, you will find diabetes scams, like the recently reviewed Kachin Diabetes Solution and Diabetes Freedom. And you’ll find a number of the slimy, overpriced offerings by Ryan Shelton and his affiliated scammers. Even the really horrible Leptitox rip-off is featured at Diettalk’s reviews. It was a literal Chamber of Infoscam Horrors. We counted over 100 promotions listed at their Reviews section and at least 90% were classic infoscams offering overpriced or useless products to consumers. Our esteem for Diettalk plummeted as it became obvious that they created an Internet mousetrap — they entice readers with quality articles and lure them into the slimy products pay Diettalk handsomely for any consumers lured into the trap. How disgusting!
Sadly, we may see more and more “Diettalks” crop up on the Net. In the meantime, if you are looking for high quality, credible websites that aren’t trying to trap consumers, we recommend the following sites:
National Health Information Center