NORTH BERGEN, N.J.—Approximately 60 percent of U.S. adults take a dietary supplement or vitamin, according to a new survey conducted for Vitamin Shoppe Inc. One-thousand U.S. adults participated in the survey, conducted by Wakefield Research, sharing their opinions on the effects of dietary supplements, as well as what types of products they use.
Multivitamins topped the list of most-used products, with 75 percent of supplement users taking a multi on a regular basis. Other top products among supplement consumers: vitamin D (52 percent), vitamin C (49 percent), calcium (45 percent), B vitamins (43 percent), fish oil (42 percent) and iron (25 percent). Consumers feel supplements benefit their overall health, with 72 percent of respondents stating they strongly or somewhat agree that they are more confident about their health when taking those products.
Among the 40 percent of consumers who don’t take vitamins or other dietary supplements, the most common reason was feeling it was unnecessary with a balanced diet (43 percent). Other consumers cited poor memory (22 percent said they wouldn’t remember to take it), pricing (9 percent said products were too expensive) and possible adverse effects (7 percent worry about the negative effects of taking too many supplements).
Among parents, 43 percent of respondents said they do not give their children any dietary supplements, while 34 percent do so daily; 48 percent of those providing their children with supplements started their children on those products between the ages of 1 and 2 years.
Results between men and women also revealed interesting trends. Two-thirds (65 percent) of women take dietary supplements, compared to 55 percent of men. Women were more likely than men to take vitamin D and calcium, with more men consuming vitamin C. Among non-supplement users, men were more likely to state they felt it was unnecessary (53 percent of men, 31 percent of women) while women cited forgetfulness (27 percent of women) and price (12 percent).
Vitamin Shoppe’s results make sense after looking at figures reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in April 2011. INSIDER’s story noted NIH and CDC found 53 percent of U.S. adults were using dietary supplements in 2003-2006, up from just 43 percent in NHANES III, 1988-1994. CDC and NIH also found specific growth in use of calcium, vitamin D, folic acid and multivitamin supplements.
