Two out of three (66.2 percent) online adults use the internet to gather wellness information - and women are significantly more likely than men to do so - 71.7 percent versus 60.5 percent - according to a Burst Media survey of nearly 1,700 web users age 18+, MarketingCharts reports.

The study sought to understand how consumers research wellness topics online, including fitness, diet, health and beauty.

Among the key findings:

• Overall, nutrition information is the most popular wellness topic to research online (38.4 percent) among US adults.
• One-third (33.9 percent) of respondents research wellness information at least once per week and 10.7 percent search daily.
• Respondents age 25-34 are the most active consumers of online wellness information; among this segment, 45.9 percent research at least once per week, and one in six (16.3 percent) search daily.

Among other findings of the study:

• Gender, not age, is the largest factor in reliance on online wellness information: High usage by women is fairly consistent among all female age segments, rising from 66.0 percent among women age 18-24 to 75 percent among women 55+.

• Women 65 years and older are also very active consumers of online wellness information; among them,18.0 percent say they search daily for online wellness information.
• Among men, usage of the internet as a wellness resource jumps significantly with respondents 45 years and older.
• More education = Greater reliance on online wellness resources: Survey respondents with some college and college graduates are significantly more likely than respondents with only a high school education to seek wellness information online - 67.9 percent vs. 59.5 percent.
• Wellness content is king: Commercial wellness/health websites, such as Wellness.com and webMD.com, condition-specific sites, blogs and forums are the most popular resources to turn to for wellness information, with over one-third of respondents utilizing these resources (36.3 percent and 34.6 percent of women and men, respectively).
• Commercial health/wellness websites are particularly popular with women 55+ and respondents reporting household income of $100,000.
• Other online resources used for gathering wellness information include healthcare-provider websites (27.6 percent), government websites (27.6 percent) and corporate websites (18.2 percent).

"The great thing about the internet has always been the ability for people to seek out niche content, like data on a particular health condition. Advertising and marketing online has lagged behind that consumer behavior," said Jarvis Coffin, CEO of Burst Media. "The demographic of people that seek wellness information is a marketer's dream, both from an age, gender and income perspective."