Which is what makes Nutrition Navigator, run by the Tufts University School of Nutrition Science and Policy, such a welcome oasis. Choose a suggested category of information or key in a search topic and the site will spit out thumbnail sketches of Web sites, including a quality rating.
Categories are according to target audiences, from kids to educators and journalists.
Each site is vetted quarterly by a panel of six reviewers and ranked on a 25-point scale to account for accuracy, depth of information, timeliness, and usability. The site provides hotlinks only to Web sites the panel finds solid, such as the Kids Food Cyber Club. Sponsored by the Connecticut Association for Human Services and Kaiser Permanente, the Club garnered the Navigator's near-perfect score of 24.