Countering dairy misinformation with science communication: effectively communicating dairy product benefits to non-scientific publics

Abstract

Abstract Humans are bombarded daily with myriads of health-related dairy information and its impact on their health. While much of this information could be beneficial, others may be harmful, especially to the non-scientific publics, who cannot immediately verify such information. These non-scientific publics could also find it daunting to interpret and understand scientific findings on sustainable dairy benefits, thereby increasing the scourge of misinformation. While studies on the benefits of sustainable dairy production to human health have received much scholarly attention, there is a recurring challenge of dairy misinformation. Hence, communicating dairy products’ scientific benefits through research findings, facts, and counter-narratives becomes imperative. Science communication offers various methods to transmit science-related information to non-experts, thereby reducing misinformation. This study examines non-scientific publics knowledge and understanding of dairy benefits to understand aspects of dairy misinformation. Quantitative data was generated among 124 purposively selected non-scientific respondents, while five (5) professional medical practitioners (in)validated respondents’ opinions on aspects of dairy misinformation and scientific beliefs. The findings revealed a high knowledge of dairy benefits while there were aspects of misunderstanding and misinformation around dairy benefits. Moreover, respondents were uninformed about scientific findings and their benefits. This study suggests that providing counter-dairy narratives through adequate science communication, media (traditional and digital), community-level interactions, and multidisciplinary partnerships between science-based and non-science-based scholars could be a panacea to reducing dairy misinformation.