Dietary supplements use is high in the USA, reveals new data!

A new study published online on 18 April 2023 showed that dietary supplements (DS) use is common in the USA in adults as well as children. This report is on the website of National Health Statistics Reports which is the official publication of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dietary supplements use in the USA

Dietary supplements are used to supplement the daily diet. We require proteins, carbs, fats and minerals and vitamins for health and proper body growth and development. Often our diet falls short of certain vital nutrients due to varied reasons. In these cases, these supplements help to rectify the shortages.

The National Health Statistics Reports is an online publication of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In its 18 April 2023 report, the center published the findings of its survey. They tried to estimate how many people in the USA, young and old and kids are on dietary supplements or DS in short. They found that more than half of adults and nearly one third of children consume these supplements.

Suruchi Mishra attached to National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland and colleagues did the study. In order to arrive at the estimate figures, they used the data from the 2017 to March 2020 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for children and adolescents in the age group of 0 to 19 years and adults who were aged 20 years and older. All this data was before the covid pandemic. There were 6324 and 9924 in the two study groups respectively.

The study findings

In the study period, 34.8% of children and adolescents and 58.5% of adults had used at least one dietary supplement in 30 days prior to the time they were surveyed. Apart from the age group of 12 months to 24 months, females users were more in the other age groups studied. As the income of the individual increased, the use of DS was more in them. Also, highly educated individuals used them more often.

As regards the race, higher DS use was more non-Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic Asian population. The elderly used more number of supplements compared to the younger age group. 23.5% of youth and 31.5% of adults used multivitamins. 3.0% of youth and 18.5% of adults took vitamin D supplements. Most of the adults on multivitamin supplement or vitamin D supplement had them daily.

The conclusion

The authors state:

“These results indicate that any DS and multiple DS intake is common in the United States, and national surveys, such as NHANES, should continue to monitor DS use among children, adolescents, and adults,”

This was a self reported survey and might be not so accurate. With the covid pandemic since the last few years, it is likely that DS use might have increased.

Read here: Natural sources of antioxidants vs antioxidant supplements: which is better?

Because people started using these supplement pills to enhance immunity to fight the virus for which there is no cure. Also, some limited research has shown that multivitamins can play a role in mitigation of the symptoms and insult of the virus. Data over these years would help to clear the picture.