Dietary Supplement Use By Korean Elderly

초록

In order to investigate the dietary supplement use during the last one year, a nationwide survey was conducted in metropolitan and middle-sized city area. The subject were 2188 non-institutionalized adults and elderly aged 50 and over and information was collected by in-person interviews. Prevalence of dietary supplement use and association between supplement use and demographic or health-related characteristics was examined using SPSS statistical package. Dietary supplement use was reported by 30.2% of the subjects. Mean kinds of dietary supplement taken by subjects was 1.42 and Chinese medicine was the most commonly used supplement in both male and female subjects. Most reason of dietary supplement use was health promotion and most supplement users did not know or knew roughly the effects of their taking dietary supplements. As information sources on dietary supplements, family, friends or relatives was the most source, followed by TV and radio. Dietary supplement use was significantly associated with demographic factors such as education, pocket money and residence area, health-related lifestyles such as exercise and regular medical examination and nutritional knowledge. Dietary supplement users had significantly higher mean nutrient intakes calculated from food frequency questionnaire compared to non-users, which might suggest overuse of dietary supplement. However, it might be important to recognize that dietary supplement use is helpful for elderly who are at risk of nutritional deficiency.