Study: Many Use Dietary Supplements Despite Little Proven Benefit

A new study finds that close to half of adults in the United States continue to use dietary supplements despite little available evidence to suggest the benefit of doing so.

While acknowledging that dietary supplements are commonly used by US adults, a team led by researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center note that "little is known about recent trends in supplement use."
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In an effort to shed more light on trends in dietary supplement use, the investigators examined data from 37,958 adults with a weighted mean age of 46.4 years. All participants had completed the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) collected between 1999 and 2012. Outcomes included the use of any supplements; the use of multivitamins/multiminerals (MVMM); and the use of individual vitamins, minerals, and nonvitamin, nonmineral supplements. The authors analyzed data by population subgroup, including age, sex, race/ethnicity, and educational status.

Overall, the use of supplements remained stable over the period the researchers evaluated, with 52% of US-based adults reporting use of any supplements in 2011 and 2012, although this trend varied by population subgroup.

The use of MVMM, as 37% of participants reported use of MVMM in 1999 and 2000 compared with 31% reporting use in 2011 and 2012. Vitamin D supplementation from sources other than MVMM increased from 5.1% to 19%, and the use of fish oil supplements increased from 1.3% to 12% over the study period, while the use of several other supplements decreased, according to the authors.

“Providers should be aware of the high prevalence of supplement use, and trends in individual supplements, says lead study author Elizabeth Kantor, PhD, MPH, assistant attending epidemiologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and a co-author of the study.

“This information can be used to guide patient-provider discussions regarding dietary supplement use,” she says. “Moving forward, given the high prevalence of use, it is important that we better understand the effects of supplements, both in terms of intended and unintended health effects; such an understanding can be used to inform both patients and providers with regard to dietary supplement use.”

—Mark McGraw

Reference:

Kantor E, Rehm C, et al. Trends in dietary supplement use among US adults from 1999-2012. JAMA. 2016;316(14):1464-1474.