Prevalence of Dietary Supplement Use in US Children and Adolescents, 2003-2014

Abstract

This study uses NHANES data to estimate the prevalence of dietary supplement use, including both nutritional products and alternative medicines, among US children and adolescents between 2003 and 2014.

Figure.. Weighted Prevalence Estimates of Dietary Supplement Use by Sex and Age Group Among US Children and Adolescents

Graphs are based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), 2003-2004 to 2013-2014. All data are weighted to account for differential probabilities of selection and differential nonresponse. A, Significance of trends across all 6 NHANES 2-year cycles was tested using survey-weighted logistic regression. Use of alternative medicines nearly doubled from 2003-2004 vs 2013-2014 (3.7%; 95% CI, 2.8%-4.7% vs 6.3%; 95% CI, 4.8%-8.3%; P < .001). B, Survey-weighted logistic regression was used to compare prevalence between boys and girls. Among adolescents (13-19 years), girls reported higher use of any dietary supplements in the preceding 30 days (adolescent girls, 33.4%; 95% CI, 27.0%-40.3% vs adolescent boys, 23.9%; 95% CI, 19.0%-29.7%; P = .06), specifically nutritional products (adolescent girls, 30.3%; 95% CI, 24.8%-36.4% vs adolescent boys, 21.5%; 95% CI, 16.8%-27.1%; P = .04). P values for differences in prevalence between boys and girls are based on a Wald test using design-based estimates of variance.