Research: current researchUse of vitamin, mineral, nonvitamin, and nonmineral supplements in the United States: the 1987, 1992, and 2000 National Health Interview Survey results
Section snippets
Sample population
NHIS is a nationwide in-person survey of households conducted to obtain health information on the noninstitutionalized, civilian household population of the United States. This survey has been conducted annually since 1957 by the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The US Bureau of the Census administers the data collection of NHIS via personal household interviews (17).
Cancer supplement questionnaires
In 1987 and 1992 the NHIS included a supplemental questionnaire, the
Results
A description of the sampling from 1987, 1992, and 2000 NHIS by demographic and lifestyle characteristics are presented in Appendix A (Appendixes are available at www.eatright.org).
Table 1 shows the prevalence of the use of any VM supplement in 1987, 1992, and 2000 by frequency of use intake categories stratified by race/ethnicity and sex. The prevalence of reported use of any VM supplement anytime in the past year did not change significantly between 1987 (51.2%) and 2000 (51.0%). However, the
Discussion
Our results indicated that from 1987 to 1992 to 2000, the trend in daily use of multivitamins, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and calcium supplements by US adults significantly increased. The greatest increase in daily VM supplement use for all supplements occurred between 1992 and 2000. Our results also show that as of 2000, 33.9% of the US adult population (aged 18 to 99 years) consumes a VM supplement daily and that 6.0% report daily use of a NVNM supplement. The use of supplements, both
Conclusions
This research provides the most current national data on VM supplement use. Such data provide a benchmark for other investigators to compare VM supplement use within their own studies to nationally representative data. These data indicate that dietetics professionals, physicians, and other health professionals need to consider the contribution of VM intake to total nutrient intake, especially within specific demographic and lifestyle groups such as females, non-Hispanic whites, and older
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Lisa L. Kahle for programming support.
A. E. Millen is a postdoctoral fellow, K. W. Dodd is a mathematical statistician, and A. F. Subar is a nutritionist with the National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA
References (26)
- et al.
Vitamin/mineral supplement useA telephone survey of adults in the United States
J Am Diet Assoc
(1985) - et al.
Trends in use of vitamin and mineral supplements in the United StatesThe 1987 and 1992 National Health Interview Survey
J Am Diet Assoc
(1995) - et al.
Nonvitamin, nonmineral dietary supplementsIssues and findings from NHANES III
J Am Diet Assoc
(2000) - et al.
Vitamin E and vitamin C supplement use and risk of all-cause and coronary heart disease mortality in older personsThe Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly
Am J Clin Nutr
(1996) Estimation of usual intake distributions of nutrients and foods
J Nutr
(2003)- et al.
Use of dietary supplements in the United States, 1988–94
Vital Health Stat
(1999) - et al.
Vitamin and mineral supplement use in the United StatesResults from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
Arch Fam Med
(2000) - et al.
Recent patterns of medication use in the ambulatory adult population of the United StatesThe Slone Survey
JAMA
(2002) Economic characterization of the dietary supplement industry final report
(2003)Dietary Reference IntakesApplications in Dietary Assessment
(2000)
Nutrient intake and supplementation in the United States (NHANES II)
Am J Public Health
Vitamin supplement use, by demographic characteristics
Am J Epidemiol
Use of Vitamin and Mineral Supplements in the United StatesCurrent Users, Types of Products, and Nutrients
Cited by (0)
A. E. Millen is a postdoctoral fellow, K. W. Dodd is a mathematical statistician, and A. F. Subar is a nutritionist with the National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA