Abstract
BackgroundAlthough a number of studies have been conducted on the prevalence of dietary supplement (DS) use in military personnel, these investigations have not been previously summarized. This article provides a systematic literature review of this topic.MethodsLiterature databases, reference lists, and other sources were searched to find studies that quantitatively examined the prevalence of DS use in uniformed military groups. Prevalence data were summarized by gender and military service. Where there were at least two investigations, meta-analysis was performed using a random model and homogeneity of the prevalence values was assessed.ResultsThe prevalence of any DS use for Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps men was 55%, 60%, 60%, and 61%, respectively; for women corresponding values were 65%, 71%, 76%, and 71%, respectively. Prevalence of multivitamin and/or multimineral (MVM) use for Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps men was 32%, 46%, 47%, and 41%, respectively; for women corresponding values were 40%, 55%, 63%, and 53%, respectively. Use prevalence of any individual vitamin or mineral supplement for Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps men was 18%, 27%, 25%, and 24%, respectively; for women corresponding values were 29%, 36%, 40%, and 33%, respectively. Men in elite military groups (Navy Special Operations, Army Rangers, and Army Special Forces) had a use prevalence of 76% for any DS and 37% for MVM, although individual studies were not homogenous. Among Army men, Army women, and elite military men, use prevalence of Vitamin C was 15% for all three groups; for Vitamin E, use prevalence was 8%, 7%, and 9%, respectively; for sport drinks, use prevalence was 22%, 25% and 39%, respectively. Use prevalence of herbal supplements was generally low compared to vitamins, minerals, and sport drinks, ≤5% in most investigations.ConclusionsCompared to men, military women had a higher use prevalence of any DS and MVM. Army men and women tended to use DSs and MVM less than other service members. Elite military men appeared to use DSs and sport drinks more than other service members.
Highlights
A number of studies have been conducted on the prevalence of dietary supplement (DS) use in military personnel, these investigations have not been previously summarized
As a result of this examination, keywords selected for the search included military personnel, soldier, sailor, airmen, marine, armed forces personnel, coast guard, submariners, Navy, and Air Force personnel combined with nutrition, DS, supplement, vitamin, mineral, amino acid, protein, herb, herbal, sport drink, sport bar, nutriceuticals, neutraceuticals, food supplements, and food supplementation
Seven reports were in government technical reports [14,15,16,17,18,19,20], two were only in abstract form [21,22], 9 were in an Institute of Medicine report on the use of DSs in military personnel [23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31], and 20 reports were in peerreviewed journal articles [5,6,7,8,9,12,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45]
Summary
A number of studies have been conducted on the prevalence of dietary supplement (DS) use in military personnel, these investigations have not been previously summarized. The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 [2] established the regulatory framework for DSs in the United States (US). Since this act became law, US sales of DSs have increased from $4 billion in 1994 to $30 billion in 2011 [3,4], an approximate 8-fold increase over 17 years. Service members may use DSs that have purported ergogenic effects to enhance their occupational performance [5,6,7,8,9]. Military personnel may use DSs that purportedly enhance health or performance under these conditions. The general US population appears to consume DSs primarily for health reasons with only minor concern for performance enhancement [10,11]
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