Patterns of dietary supplement use among college students

Abstract

College students appear more likely to use DS than the general population and many use multiple types of supplements weekly. Habits established at a young age persist throughout life. Therefore, longitudinal research should be conducted to determine whether patterns of DS use established early in adulthood are maintained throughout life. Adequate scientific justification for widespread use of DS in healthy, young populations is lacking.

Native/Aboriginal Students use Natural Health Products for Health Maintenance More so than Other University Students

“…It could be that students using tobacco products may use NHP as a way to decrease the negative effects associated with tobacco. This could support a survey performed in five U.S. universities that reported that students using tobacco products are more likely to take several dietary supplements weekly [19]. It is suggested in this last study that students may incorrectly perceive the frequent use of dietary supplements to be a substitute for other healthy behaviors [19].…”

“…This could support a survey performed in five U.S. universities that reported that students using tobacco products are more likely to take several dietary supplements weekly [19]. It is suggested in this last study that students may incorrectly perceive the frequent use of dietary supplements to be a substitute for other healthy behaviors [19]. This, however, warrants more investigation because in Native/Aboriginal culture, tobacco is traditionally used in ceremonies (e.g., prayers and offerings) and is also used as a medicine or as an anesthetic [32,33].…”

“…This, however, warrants more investigation because in Native/Aboriginal culture, tobacco is traditionally used in ceremonies (e.g., prayers and offerings) and is also used as a medicine or as an anesthetic [32,33]. It is interesting that although students may perceive the use of dietary supplements as a substitute for healthy behaviors [19], they also report that they are unsure of the effectiveness and safety of CAM [34].…”

“…This suggests a relationship between students' psychological motivations and herbs used [10,17,18]. A survey performed in five U.S. universities indicates that 66% of students use dietary supplements at least once a week [19]. While previous research shows the use of NHP by adults varies for different ethnic or education groups, prior research does not specifically focus upon Native/Aboriginal university students' use of NHP for HeathM.…”

Longitudinal trends in use of dietary supplements by U.S. Army personnel differ from those of civilians

“…It is also of interest to note that DS use appears to be increasing among young active civilians. Prevalence rates of 46% were observed from a survey conducted in 2007 (Goston and Correia 2010), and use prevalence of 65% has been reported from surveys conducted more recently on college campuses (Hoyte et al 2013;Lieberman et al 2015) or local gymnasiums (Lacerda et al 2015). Thus, the significant difference in DS use among the youngest soldiers in the present study between the 2 cohorts could reflect the increased DS use, in general, among young active individuals.…”