Nearly 1 In 3 Kids Take Supplements

(WebMD)  Almost a third of U.S. kids and teens take dietary supplements (mainly multivitamins and multiminerals), experts report.

That news appears in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Since supplements are so widely used, supplement use ought to be considered in estimating kids' nutrient intake, write the researchers.

They included Mary Frances Picciano, PhD, of the Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Picciano and colleagues studied the U.S. government's latest report on dietary supplement use by kids and teens. Data came from national health surveys conducted from 1999 to 2002.

The results show that nearly 32 percent of kids and teens used dietary supplements.

White children aged 4-8 from wealthier, nonsmoking families were the most likely to use dietary supplements.

Kids who took supplements tended to spend less time than other kids watching TV, playing video games, or using a computer for fun.

Relatively few children took supplements for a single vitamin or mineral. Use of botanical supplements (such as ginkgo or ginseng) was rare.

"To truly assess the nutrient status and estimate the potential health risks of U.S. children, we must include nutrient intakes from dietary supplements as well as food," Picciano's team concludes.



By Miranda Hitti
Reviewed by Louise Chang
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