Health Literacy and Numeracy: A Comparison of Magazine Health Messages

This content analysis of Cosmopolitan and Latina magazines (N = 348) examines health news stories read by millions of young U.S. women for factors related to health literacy. Findings show that the majority of magazine stories were brief and replete with technical language. Alternative explanations were provided only 41% of the time. More than half of stories in both magazines contained numbers, yet provided few figurative illustrations. Although a majority of stories had accompanying images, these images seldom added to the understanding of the health news. Latina included more culturally relevant information and had more coverage of diabetes and obesity.