Knowledge Concerning Dietary Supplements Among General Public in VA
This article describes tools and resources that clinicians can use to differentiate products, review the quality characteristics of individual products using publicly available information, and educate patients about the safe use of nutritional supplements. Physicians can use a variety of resources to expand their knowledge of nutritional supplements and help them differentiate between nutritional supplements in terms of quality. By gaining knowledge of resources and tools that help identify quality nutritional supplements, such as adhering to government standards and using testing programs, clinicians can help their patients choose the right products.
Patients often take nutritional supplements without consulting physicians and often do not report nutritional supplements unless specifically asked for. Questions about supplement use are critical when patients are taking prescription drugs because they may experience harmful interactions with drugs. In addition, it is important that clinicians be aware of the quality of dietary supplements in order to provide appropriate care and detect side effects. It is often difficult to study the use of supplements for disease prevention and health promotion in epidemiological studies because supplement use cannot be decoupled from other health-promoting behaviors. Previous research also shows that supplement users get more of most vitamins and minerals from their food choices alone than those who don’t in research. Randomized controlled trials are ideal for investigating supplement use and health outcomes, but are often inconclusive.
For example, in a Canadian national study, more than 80% of supplemented children aged 1 to 3 years consumed more than the upper limit of vitamin A and niacin. In the United States, excess intake of vitamin A was found (97 %) and zinc (68%) among children who received nutritional supplements for worry. Overconsumption – The prevalence of overconsumption in a population is estimated as the percentage of the population with nutrient intakes above the tolerable upper limit vitamin D. Despite widespread use of supplements, micronutrient malnutrition is still prevalent in high-income countries where diets tend to be high in energy but low in nutrients.
A high rate of dietary supplement use was found in 410 people, but a significant portion of the study group indicated that information about these products was inaccurate. The prevalence of dietary supplement use shown in this study is higher than our previous online survey of Japanese college students, Japan. A study conducted among US college students found no significant gender differences in nutritional supplement use. The current study found that nutritional supplement use increased significantly among high school students.
In other countries, it has been reported that medical/pharmaceutical students or healthcare workers were more likely to use nutritional supplements than the general population or other college students. In this survey, men were more likely to use dietary supplements for sports purposes than women, but this finding was not statistically significant and could be related to the small sample size in this study. Alfawaz et al reported more supplement use among single female students than among married females, which is inconsistent with the results of the present study and the results of the present study. The prevalence of dietary supplement use in the present study was lower than among Nigerian and American students and higher than among university students in Qatar and Pakistan.
The current study confirms these findings, showing a high rate of dietary supplement use (65.8%) among medical students at Jouf University in Saudi Arabia. In this study, the most common reasons students used nutritional supplements were nutritional supplements and health promotion, which is consistent with other studies. A cross-sectional study found that MVMM use was high in the general population in Saudi Arabia and was significantly associated with gender, marital status, education, regular exercise, smoking, special diets, and fruit and vegetable intake. Furthermore, this study adds to the literature that people on special diets in the general Saudi Arabian population took significantly less MVMM supplements, while those who ate fruit/vegetables took more MVMM supplements.
The cross-sectional study provides valuable information on the prevalence of MVMM supplementation in the world population. Multivitamins are the most commonly used dietary supplements, with more than 60% of IWHS women claiming to use them. However, the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans found no evidence to recommend the use of multivitamins to prevent chronic disease. The Iowa study found an association between standard multivitamin intake and an increased risk of death; in addition, there is evidence whether supplementation increases the risk of cancer. Federal guidelines, such as the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, recommend meeting nutritional needs primarily through food intake, while limiting the use of vitamins and dietary supplements.These recommendations support the use of nutritional supplements for pregnant and breastfeeding women (eg, iron), women of childbearing age (eg, folic acid), and those 20 years and older (eg, vitamin B12). Among adults, use of botanical herbs and supplements has been linked to lack of insurance, use of multiple prescription and over-the-counter medications, and certain health conditions. National study data show that most herbal supplement users do not disclose. This may be a cause for concern, as some herbal supplements may interact negatively with prescription drugs.
The results presented show that it does not matter whether the respondents used supplements or not, and their knowledge of caloric requirements was very poor. The effect of supplements on certain populations deserves further study.