Dietary supplement use among adults has increased
over the past 30 years in the United States and
currently about half of adults report using 1 or
more dietary supplements.
Many characteristics of people who choose
supplements are known: users tend to be older, have
a lower body mass index (BMI) (calculated as weight
in kilograms divided by height in meters squared),
are less likely to smoke and have higher educational
attainment and socioeconomic status compared with
nonusers, are more likely to report very good or
excellent health, have health insurance, use alcohol
moderately, and exercise more frequently than
nonusers.
However, the actual motivations for use, that is,
the reasons that people take dietary supplements
remain unclear. The National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey (NHANES) began querying
motivations for use of dietary supplements for the
first time in 2007.
The purpose of this analysis was to examine
motivations for use of dietary supplements by adults
as well as to characterize the types of products
that were used, the most common motivations for
using them and to examine the role of physicians and
health care practitioners in guiding choices about
dietary supplements.
Data from adults (=20 years; n = 11 956) were
examined in the 2007-2010 National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey, a nationally
representative, cross-sectional, population-based
survey.
The most commonly reported reasons for using
supplements were to “improve” (45%) or “maintain”
(33%) overall health.
Women used calcium products for “bone health” (36%),
whereas men were more likely to report supplement
use for “heart health or to lower cholesterol”
(18%).
Older adults (=60 years) were more likely than
younger individuals to report motivations related to
site-specific reasons like heart, bone and joint,
and eye health.
Only 23% of products were used based on
recommendations of a health care provider.
It seemed that some products were being used in many
different ways by different people, making
interpretation of motivations more complicated.
Virtually no one used products for asthma,
allergies, diabetes mellitus, to improve sleep, or
to aid in relaxation despite several products being
marketed for these purposes.
These data lend credence to the “inverse supplement
hypothesis” that many supplement users are healthy
individuals who want to take an active role in their
own health, and who perceive supplements as a type
of “insurance” against poor health.
Multivitamin-mineral products were the most
frequently reported type of supplement taken,
followed by calcium and ω-3 or fish oil supplements.
Supplement users reported motivations related to
overall health more commonly than for supplementing
nutrients from food intakes. Use of supplements was
related to more favorable health and lifestyle
choices. Less than a quarter of supplements used by
adults were recommended by a physician or health
care provider.
For more information
Bailey RL, Gahche JJ, Miller PE, Thomas PR, Dwyer
JT. Why US Adults Use Dietary Supplements. JAMA
Intern Med. 2013;173(5):355-361.
doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.2299
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