Join SparkPeople. Says Who? A Medical Journal.

Here's something you don't see everyday: a wellness Web site endorsed by a medical journal.

A study of 18 online user groups devoted to weight loss, published in the American Journal of Medicine, cited SparkPeople as a site users should turn to for support and accurate information. The authors essentially were testing the accuracy of content in community forums. They found that larger communities with many regular posters were indeed mostly self-correcting (as Wikipedia allegedy is. But don't get me started riding that hobby horse.)

Wrote the authors, addressing clinicians seeking to help patients lose weight:
Refer patients to high-activity forums, such as the “Diet and Nutrition” or “Fitness and Exercise” forums on http://www.sparkpeople.com/ or other forums with more than 1,000 messages per month.

They also looked at the fora of CalorieKing, the delightfully named 3fatchicks, about.com and others.

Stat freaks should check out the full study linked above, which cites how many errors they found, how many were corrected by the community, how many were serious, etc. (Answers: Not many, about 1/3, very few).

As it turns out, I participated in the SparkPeople community for a year or so, as a personal experiment in online health communities. (Also I wanted to cut 10 pounds.) I can tell you it is a great source of motivation and support, plus first-rate expert advice. I don’t think I ever got a bum steer.

Of course I could have written a novel in the time I spent on the site, but that’s another story.