Current Dietary Supplement Use Among United States Children
12/5/2007
The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine published results from the 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which provides a look at U.S. children and their vitamin intakes.
The nation wide survey found that only 31.8% of children used dietary supplements. The lowest use was among infants younger than 1 year old (11.9%) and teenagers aged 14 to 18 years old (25.7%). The highest use was reported among non-hispanic white (38.1%) and Mexican American (22.4%) participants. Not surprisingly, the most commonly used type of supplement was a multivitamin/mineral supplement, followed by ascorbic acid, retinol, vitamin D, calcium and iron.
Picciano, M., et al. "Dietary Supplement Use Among Infants, Children and Adolescents in the United States, 1999-2002". Arch. Pediatr. Adolesc. Med., 2007; 161:929.