Abstract
Many national and international public health organisations recommend achieving nutrient adequacy through consumption of a wide variety of nutritious foods. Despite this, dietary supplement sales continue to increase. Understanding the characteristics of micronutrient supplement users and the relationship with diet quality can help develop effective public health interventions to reduce unnecessary consumption of vitamin and mineral supplements. Participants (n = 1306) were a convenience sample of students studying first year food and nutrition. Data was collected via a Food and Diet Questionnaire (FDQ) and a Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). Supplement users were defined as participants who indicated consuming any listed supplement as frequently as once a month or more. Diet quality was assessed using a Dietary Guideline Index (DGI) score. Prevalence of supplement use was high in this study population with 56% of participants reporting supplement use; the most popular supplements consumed were multivitamins (28%) and vitamin C (28%). A higher DGI score was significantly associated with an increased likelihood of supplement use (mean: 105 ± 18 vs. 109 ± 17, p = 0.001). Micronutrient supplement use was associated with a higher DGI score, suggesting that supplements are more likely to be used by those who are less likely to require them.
Highlights
Food and nutrient guidelines are established by national health agencies to provide members of the public and health practitioners with evidence based recommendations on nutrient and dietary intakes that are associated with low risk of nutrient deficiencies and diet related chronic diseases [1,2]
The present study aims to investigate demographic characteristics, diet quality and micronutrient supplement use in a sample of students studying food and nutrition
Our results indicate that micronutrient supplement use is common in this sample of university students with over half the participants reported consuming some type of vitamin and mineral supplement
Summary
Food and nutrient guidelines are established by national health agencies to provide members of the public and health practitioners with evidence based recommendations on nutrient and dietary intakes that are associated with low risk of nutrient deficiencies and diet related chronic diseases [1,2]. In Australia, iodine and folate are the only micronutrient supplements recommended by national health agencies and these recommendations are specific for pregnant women, women planning a pregnancy or breastfeeding women [5,6]. Despite these public health recommendations, the Australian dietary supplement industry has seen a significant increase in sales over the last few years [7]. Multivitamins are the most popular supplement sold and the turnover in 2012 was AUS
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