Half of American Adults

Continue to Take Supplements!

Consumer Trends Survey Reports Growing Use of

Antioxidants, Carotenoids, Minerals, Phytonutrients,

Herbals, Vitamins and Multi-Vitamin Supplements

Use of dietary supplements in the United States has risen,
with about 50 percent of Americans reporting supplement use,
according to a survey of 20,000 people.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health, Office of
Dietary Supplements also report for the first time the use of
botanical supplements amongst a sample of the US population,
with about 20 percent of adults using a dietary supplement with
at least one botanical ingredient.

Results of the survey are published in the Journal of Nutrition,
and used data from the National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2003 to 2006.

More women & girls than men & boys were supplement users,
with 44 percent of males listed as users, compared with 53
percent of females. Furthermore, multi-vitamin, multi-mineral
supplements were the most popular, with 33 percent amongst
users.

"Without consideration of nutrient intakes from dietary
supplements, there is a potential to misclassify the prevalence
of nutrient inadequacy and excess,"wrote the researchers
stating "These data suggest a high prevalence of dietary
supplement use in the U.S. population."

The Natural Products Association (NPA) welcomed the
survey's findings, saying that the results are "what we all
expected, and they support what we have been saying, which
is that supplement use continues to go up."

The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), echoed these
comments, adding: "This survey is consistent with other
surveys showing a slight increase in supplement use and
appears to be on track with the CRN Consumer Survey on
Dietary Supplements."

The main results of the survey include:

49 percent of the US population use dietary supplements.

33 percent of users took a multivitamin-multimineral
  supplement.

28-30 percent of users reported taking a supplement that
  contained the vitamins A, B-6, B-12, C, and E.

26-27 percent of users reported taking a supplement that
  contained zinc and magnesium.

18-19 percent of users reported taking a supplement that
  contained chromium, iron, and selenium.

20 percent of adults use a supplement containing at least
  one herbal-botanical ingredient.

Source: Journal of Nutrition (Published online)

"Dietary Supplement Use in the United States, 2003-2006"

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