The Characteristics of Young Children According to Dietary Supplement Use in Infancy: Data from the KNHANES IV and V (2009‐2012)

Abstract

The interest of dietary supplement intake in early childhood is increasing. However, few studies have been conducted in Korea to examine the influence on health and growth. This study was conducted to assess the sociodemographic characteristics, health and growth outcomes, and dietary intakes of young children according to dietary supplement use in infancy. Data from 1,262 subjects aged 1‐3 years with 24hr diet recall data from Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey IV and V (2009‐2012) were analyzed. We compared the differences of sociodemographic characteristics, health and growth outcomes including diagnosed disease, perceived health state, current health problem, weight‐for‐age, height‐for‐age, and weight‐for‐height, and dietary intakes between supplement users and non‐users. The prevalence of supplement use was 34.4%. The supplement use was significantly higher in older children and children of mothers with lower education level or supplement use. No significant differences between groups were observed in dietary intakes and most of health and growth outcomes, however, children without diagnosed disease or with weight‐for‐age less than 10 percentile used supplement more than the counterparts. Therefore, the early supplement use may be related to age, diagnosed disease, weight‐for‐age, and mother's education level and supplement use. Further studies are needed to assess the influence of dietary supplement on the long term growth and health in Korean children.This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning (grant no. 2013R1A1A2057600)