Health Supplements Information Service

Citation

(2009), "Health Supplements Information Service", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 39 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2009.01739dab.010

Health Supplements Information Service

Article Type: Food facts From: Nutrition & Food Science, Volume 39, Issue 4

A report published in the February issue of US journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine says that approximately 34 per cent of children and adolescents had used vitamins and mineral supplements during the last month.

Commenting on the report, Dr Carrie Ruxton, independent nutritionist and scientific advisor to HSIS notes: “The researchers analysed data from 10,828 American children age two to 17 who participated in the 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. As part of the study, parents filled out questionnaires and participated in household interviews, and children and teens underwent medical examinations.

“The researchers found that the children and adolescents most likely to use vitamin and mineral supplements were those with healthier diets, more active lifestyles and better health care access. In contrast, children at the highest risk for deficiencies – including those with less healthy patterns of diet and exercise, more obesity, lower income and food security, poorer health and less access to health care – were less likely to use vitamin and mineral supplements.

“This is not a new finding. Intakes of fruit and vegetables, and nutrients from food have been found to be higher in supplement users, including adolescents, in several previous studies (O’Brien et al., 2001; Dwyer et al., 2001; Stang et al., 2000) In other words, the adolescents most likely to benefit from supplements do not seem to be the ones using them”.

Dr Ruxton adds: “The UK National Diet and Nutrition Surveys in children (Gregory et al., 1995) and adolescents (Gregory et al., 2000) report that significant numbers of young people have intakes of vitamins and minerals which fail to meet recommended levels. For example, about half of pre-school children, on average, have vitamin A intakes which fell below the recommended level. Of those under 4 years of age, 95% failed to achieve the recommendation for vitamin D and 84% failed to achieve the recommendation for iron. Among those aged 4 years and over, poor iron intakes were seen in more than half. When blood levels were measured, one in eight if the under 4s were anaemic (defined by haemoglobin concentrations below 110 g/l) while one in 12 of all children were anaemic.

“Among 11-14 year olds, 45% of girls had poor intakes of iron, increasing to 50% in 14-18 year olds. Up to a quarter of girls aged over 11 years failed to meet the recommendation for calcium, an important bone health mineral. Poor magnesium intakes were seen in a third of boys and over half of girls aged over 11 years.. More recent surveys of British children have backed up these findings.

In summary, Dr Ruxton notes: “British national surveys have shown that significant numbers of children and adolescents have intakes of vitamins and minerals below recommended intakes. Moreover, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) recommends vitamin supplementation in children up to the age of 5 years, particularly if the quality of the diet cannot be assured. The FSA also suggests that women with heavy periods (some of whom will be teenagers) will not be able to able to meet their iron requirement from the diet, suggesting that a supplement will be necessary”.