title: Why US children use dietary supplements.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dietary supplements are used by one-third of children. We examined motivations for supplement use in children, the types of products used by motivations, and the role of physicians and health care practitioners in guiding choices about supplements.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined motivations for dietary supplement use reported for children (from birth to 19 y of age; n = 8,245) using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007-2010.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Dietary supplements were used by 31% of children; many different reasons were given as follows: to "improve overall health" (41%), to "maintain health" (37%), for "supplementing the diet" (23%), to "prevent health problems" (20%), and to "boost immunity" (14%). Most children (~90%) who use dietary supplements use a multivitamin-mineral or multivitamin product. Supplement users tend to be non-Hispanic white, have higher family incomes, report more physical activity, and have health insurance. Only a small group of supplements used by children (15%) were based on the recommendation of a physician or other health care provider.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most supplements used by children are not under the recommendation of a health care provider. The most common reasons for use of supplements in children are for health promotion, yet little scientific data support this notion in nutrient-replete children.
authors.affiliation: Office of Dietary Supplements, The National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: Regan L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.affiliation: National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hyattsville, Maryland.
authors.forename: Jaime J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Gahche
authors.affiliation: Office of Dietary Supplements, The National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: Paul R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: 1] Office of Dietary Supplements, The National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland [2] Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University and School of Medicine and Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Johanna T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Dwyer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult