Health Literacy and Dietary Supplement Consumption among Northeasterners of Thailand

Abstract

Background: Dietary supplement consumption have been widely used worldwide including Thailand aiming at improving or maintaining health. This research aimed to describe the patterns and identify the association between health literacy and dietary supplement consumption in the Northeast of Thailand. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,200 persons, aged 18 or older, who were multistage random sampling from four provinces of the Northeast of Thailand to response to a structured questionnaire interview. The multiple logistic regression was performed to identify the influence of health literacy on dietary supplement consumption among people in the Northeast of Thailand when controlling the covariates. Result: Among the total of 1,200 participants, 76.10% (95%CI: 73.42-78.78) were currently consuming dietary supplement. Factors that were associated with dietary supplement consumption were; had sufficient to excellent level of health literacy on appraising health information (adj.OR= 1.97; 95%CI: 1.30-2.99), had sufficient to excellent level of health literacy on accessing to health information (adj.OR= 1.91; 95%CI: 1.28-2.86), had chronic disease (adj.OR= 2.45; 95%CI: 1.74-3.44), had low level of knowledge on dietary supplement (adj.OR= 2.13; 95%CI: 1.38 -3.27), were males (adj. OR= 2.11; 95%CI: 1.65 -2.69), dissatisfied with self-body image (adj.OR= 1.50; 95%CI: 1.13 -1.98), married (adj.OR= 1.49; 95%CI: 1.16 -1.92), had insomnia (adj.OR = 1.48; 95%CI: 1.15 -1.98), when controlling other covariates including age, income, education, occupation, chronic health, health expenditure and physical activities. Conclusion: Most of the population in the Northeast of Thailand consumed dietary supplement. Health literacy in accessing and appraising health information as well as health status were associated with dietary consumption. Enhancing the health literacy and knowledge on dietary supplement were essential.