Prevalence, Determinants, and Consumer Stance towards Dietary Supplements According to Sex in a Large Greek Sample: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

A stratified random sampling technique was used in order to explore the prevalence of and the factors influencing dietary supplement (DS) use and the consumer stance towards DS by Greeks (n = 28,491, ≥15 years) according to sex. Additionally, we performed a Pearson’s chi-square to test within DS users for the dependence between sex and the examined factors, and binary logistic regression to create predictive DS user profiles. A history of DS use accounted for 55.5% and was more prevalent in women (58.4% vs. 52.3%, p < 0.001); multivitamins were the most popular DS used. The significant predictors for DS use for both sexes were age, education, employment status, exercise, and following a special diet, while BMI and monthly income were significant for women and men, respectively. The women and men DS users had mostly illness-health and fitness-related goals, respectively. Substantial proportions of the respondents had false beliefs about DS. A noticeable percentage of DS users displayed imprudent behavior regarding DS use, e.g., one out of five did not know the definition or did not take into consideration the recommended daily allowance. While several factors seemed to impact DS use, with certain differences between the sexes, the considerable lack of knowledgeable and responsible use of DS, with few differences between the sexes, observed can point state authorities and health professionals towards appropriate countermeasures.

Dietary Supplement Use and Associated Factors Among Adults Working in Urban Settings in Tanzania: A Cross-Sectional Study

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“…Despite that the “improvement of the immune system/defense system” was the main reason for the use of PFS in children (31%), men (17%), and women (19%), the following motives were different among the three subgroups, namely, flu/cold (12%), energy (9%), relaxing (6%), and general health (6%) for children, energy (11%), heart/blood circulation (7%), general health (6%), and digestive function (6%) for men, and urinary tract (8%), energy (8%), digestive function (7%), and other (7%) for women. More recently, a cross-sectional study based on in-person questionnaires collected from 2018 to 2019 among the Greek population, with a final sample size of 28,491 respondents aged more than 15 years old, demonstrated that 55.5% used dietary supplements, with vitamins (77.3%) being the most used, followed by minerals (54.4%) and herbs or extracts (50.3%) [ 49 ]. The most common reason for using food supplements was the improvement of physical condition and treatment of nutrient deficiencies for both men and women, followed by the treatment or prevention of pathological conditions, such as anemias and osteoporosis in the group of women (31.3%) or the increase of muscle mass (31.0%) and sports performance (26.8%) in the case of men.…”

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