title: Vitamin supplement use, by demographic characteristics.
abstract: Detailed data on vitamin supplement use are presented for nine specific vitamins and minerals by a wide range of demographic and behavioral characteristics. Previously recorded but uncoded data from the first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1971-1974) have been coded and analyzed, providing the only detailed vitamin use data in a representative sample large enough to examine joint distributions and multivariate analyses of numerous characteristics. Significantly fewer black persons than white persons consume vitamins regularly, and the difference is especially pronounced for specific vitamins: fourfold for vitamin E, sixfold for vitamin A, and 10-fold for vitamin C. Significant differences were also seen for age, sex, geographic region, education, poverty, type of alcoholic beverage consumed, and Quetelet index. Data are presented indicating that supplement use has not increased notably between the time of the survey and 1983, and thus the supplement use data are considered to be reasonably representative of current patterns of supplementation practice in the United States.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892-4200.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Block
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Madans
authors.forename: G B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Schreiber
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Licitra
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Melia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D012907:Smoking; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States; D014815:Vitamins / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D044465:White People
chemical_list: D014815:Vitamins