Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jun;26(6):1238-1253.
doi: 10.1017/S1368980023000095. Epub 2023 Feb 13.

Associations between clinically diagnosed medical conditions and dietary supplement use: the US military dietary supplement use study

Joseph J Knapik  1 , Daniel W Trone  2 , Ryan A Steelman  3 , Emily K Farina  1 , Harris R Lieberman  1
Affiliations

Associations between clinically diagnosed medical conditions and dietary supplement use: the US military dietary supplement use study

Joseph J Knapik et al. Public Health Nutr. 2023 Jun.

Abstract

Objective: This study examined associations between multiple dietary supplement (DS) categories and medical conditions diagnosed by health professionals.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Setting: Volunteers completed an online questionnaire on DS use and demographic/lifestyle factors. Medical diagnoses were obtained from a comprehensive military electronic medical surveillance system and grouped into twenty-four clinically diagnosed medical conditions (CDMC).

Participants: A stratified random sample of US service members (SM) from all military services (n 26 680).

Results: After adjustment for demographic/lifestyle factors (logistic regression), higher risk was found for 92 % (22/24) of CDMC among individual vitamins/minerals users, 58 % (14/24) of CDMC among herbal users, 50 % (12/24) of CDMC among any DS users and 46 % (11/24) of CDMC among multivitamins/multiminerals (MVM) users. Among protein/amino acid (AA) users, risk was lower in 25 % (6/24) of CDMC. For combination products, risk was higher in 13 % (3/24) of CDMC and lower in 8 % (2/24). The greater the number of CDMC, the higher the prevalence of DS use in most DS categories except proteins/AA where prevalence decreased.

Conclusions: Users in many DS categories had a greater number of CDMC, but protein/AA users had fewer CDMC; results for combination products were mixed. These data indicate those with certain CDMC were also users in some DS categories, especially individual vitamins/minerals, herbals and MVM. Data are consistent with the perception that use of DS enhances health, especially in those with CDMC. Protein/AA and combination product users were more likely to be younger, more physically active men, factors that likely reduced CDMC.

Keywords: CVD; Cancer; Herbals; Mental illness; Multivitamins/multiminerals; Osteoarthritis; Proteins/amino acids.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Food and Drug Administration (2015) FDA 101: Dietary Supplements. https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/fda-101-dietary-supplements (accessed August 2021).
    1. Kennedy ET, Luo H & Houser RF (2013) Dietary supplement use pattern of US adult population in the 2007–2008 national health and nutrition survey (NHANES). Ecol Food Nutr 52, 76–84. - PubMed
    1. Cowan AE, Jun S, Gahche JJ et al. (2018) Dietary supplement use differs by socioeconomic and health-related characteristics among U.S. adults, NHANES 2011–2014. Nutrients 10, 1114. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Knapik JJ, Trone DW, Austin KG et al. (2016) Prevalence, adverse effects, and factors associated with dietary supplement and nutritional supplement use by United States Navy and Marine Corps personnel. J Acad Nutr Diet 116, 1423–1442. - PubMed
    1. Knapik JJ, Austin KG, Farina EK et al. (2018) Dietary supplement use in a large, representative sample of the United States Armed Forces. J Acad Nutr Diet 118, 1370–1388. - PubMed

Publication types