31.8% Of American Children Take Dietary Supplements

Editor's Choice
Main Category: Nutrition / Diet
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Public Health
Article Date: 01 Oct 2007 - 13:00 PST

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Almost one third of US children, people aged 18 and younger, take some kind of dietary supplement, mostly multiminerals and multivitamins, says an article in Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (JAMA/Archives).

Approximately 57% of American women and 47% of American men take dietary supplements, the writers explain. Although some doctors may recommend specific supplements for children who are at risk of deficiency, the majority of professional organizations stress that a good diet is the best source of nutrients for kids.

Mary Frances Picciano, Ph.D., Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md., and team studied information gathered from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2002). The study involved 10,136 children aged 18 or less - it is seen as a nationally representative survey. All the children received medical examinations and families were interviewed, in the most part at home.

The researchers discovered that:

-- 31.8% of kids had consumed dietary supplement during the previous 30 days
-- 11.9% of infants less than 1 year old had consumed dietary supplements during the previous 30 days
-- 38.4% of 1 to 3 year olds had consumed dietary supplements during the previous 30 days
-- 40.6% of 4 to 8 year olds had consumed dietary supplements during the previous 30 days
-- 28.9% of 9 to 13 year olds had consumed dietary supplements during the previous 30 days
-- 25.7% of 14 to 18 year olds had consumed dietary supplements during the previous 30 days

Dietary supplement consumption during the previous 30 days:

-- 38.3% of non-Hispanic white children
-- 22.4% of Mexican American children
-- 18.8% of non-Hispanic black children

Which supplements were the most popular?

-- 18.3% consisted of multiminerals and multivitamins
-- 4.2% consisted of single vitamins
-- 2.4% consisted of single minerals
-- 0.8% consisted of botanical supplements

Over half the children who had taken a supplement during the previous thirty days had done so everyday. Over 60% of the children who had taken a supplement during the previous thirty days had done so regularly for the previous 12 months.

The researchers found that children from higher income homes were more likely to take dietary supplements - as was the case in a smoke-free environment, children with a lower body mass index and kids who watched less TV, or played video games less.

The children most likely to take dietary supplements, the researchers report, were those who were underweight or at risk of being underweight.

Of the children who took supplements, 83.9% took just one, 11.8% took two, while 4.3% took at least three.

The authors wrote "In conclusion, dietary supplements provide a consistent daily source of nutrients for nearly one-third of U.S. children, yet individual and national-level estimates of nutrient intake rarely account for them. Dietary Reference Intakes and Dietary Guidelines for Americans provide recommended nutrient intakes and advice on food choices that promote health and reduce the risk of disease. To truly assess the nutrient status and estimate the potential health risks of U.S. children, we must include nutrient intakes from dietary supplements as well as from food."

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007;161(10):978-985
http://archpedi.ama-assn.org

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
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