Differences in fruit and vegetable intake among categories of dietary supplement users.
BACKGROUND
People who choose to take dietary supplements are often classified as having a healthful lifestyle; however, it is probable that several health behavior patterns exist among users.


OBJECTIVE
Data from the North Carolina Strategies to Improve Diet, Exercise, and Screening study (N = 727) were used to identify and describe five different categories of dietary supplement use and evaluate how these categories are associated with both quantity and quality of fruit and vegetable consumption.


METHODS
Five nonoverlapping dietary supplement use categories were created and descriptive demographic statistics were compared. Least-squares means were calculated for knowledge and fruit and vegetable quality and quantity measures. Logistic regression was performed to calculate adjusted odds ratios to examine associations among the dietary supplement use categories and the fruit and vegetable measures, using nonusers as the reference category.


RESULTS
Demographic profiles and dietary intake varied among the dietary supplement categories. People reporting both a multivitamin/multimineral and a single supplement (Multi Plus category) and any nonvitamin/nonmineral products (Herbals category) were more likely to be consuming more vegetables and higher-quality fruits and vegetables than those not taking any dietary supplements (Nonusers category), whereas people taking multivitamins/multiminerals only (Multis category) had patterns that were more consistently similar to those not taking any dietary supplements (Nonusers).


CONCLUSIONS
Study participants exhibited dietary supplement use patterns that were associated with differences in fruit and vegetable consumption. Simply characterizing people as users and nonusers will not capture critical demographic and dietary differences and will likely further cloud investigations of diet-disease relationships.
Reedy
Jill
J
National Cancer Institute, Executive Plaza North, Room 4005, 6130 Executive Blvd, MSC 7344, Bethesda, MD 20892-7344, USA. reedyj@mail.nih.gov
Haines
Pamela S
PS
Campbell
Marci Kramish
MK
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D004032:Diet / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D019587:Dietary Supplements / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009657:North Carolina; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014675:Vegetables