About one in three U.S. children and adolescents takes a dietary supplement. Supplements can add a lot to total nutrient intake — filling shortfalls, but also possibly pushing intake above recommended upper limits. The 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans say nutritional needs should generally be met through food, so only a few supplements are recommended for young people, and only in particular circumstances.
CDC used the 2017–2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to see who takes what.
Who takes supplements
34.0% of children and adolescents aged 19 and under had used a supplement in the past 30 days — no significant change since 2009–2010.
| Any supplement, past 30 days | |
|---|---|
| All | 34.0% |
| Girls | 37.3% |
| Boys | 30.8% |
| Under 2 | 21.8% |
| Ages 2–5 | 43.3% — the highest |
| Ages 6–11 | 37.5% |
| Ages 12–19 | 29.7% |
| Non-Hispanic Asian | 41.1% |
| Non-Hispanic White | 39.9% |
| Hispanic | 26.9% |
| Non-Hispanic Black | 20.8% |
Use rose with family income and with the education of the head of the household.
Taking more than one
7.1% used two or more supplements, and that share varied by age, race and Hispanic origin, income and education.
Use of any supplement and of two or more supplements, by age group, 2009–2010 to 2017–2018. CDC
| 2009–2010 → 2017–2018 | |
|---|---|
| Any supplement, ages 12–19 | 22.1% → 29.7% |
| Two or more, all ages | 4.3% → 7.1% |
| Two or more, ages 2–5 | 6.8% → 8.3% |
| Two or more, ages 12–19 | 3.2% → 8.5% |
Because a single supplement can hold 100% or more of the recommended daily amount of a nutrient, taking two with overlapping ingredients could push intake above upper limits.
What they take
| Product | Share of all children and teens |
|---|---|
| Multivitamin-mineral | 23.8% |
| Vitamin D alone | 3.6% |
| Vitamin C alone | 3.0% |
| Probiotic | 1.8% |
| Melatonin | 1.3% |
| Omega-3 fatty acid | 1.3% |
| Botanical | 1.1% |
| Multivitamin (no minerals) | 1.0% |
Use of multivitamin-minerals, vitamin D, probiotics and botanicals differed by age.
When supplements are recommended
A recent study found that among young supplement users, 18% took one on a health care provider's advice. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends:
- iron for breastfed infants over 4 months until iron-containing foods are introduced;
- vitamin D for all exclusively breastfed infants.
Restrictive diets, pregnancy and some illnesses can also call for supplements. The AAP recommends that pediatric providers ask patients about supplement use.
How the survey works
NHANES monitors the health and nutrition of the civilian, noninstitutionalized U.S. population. In an in-home interview, participants — or, for those under 16, an adult proxy — were asked to show the containers of every supplement taken in the past 30 days, and the interviewer copied the labels. The sample was 3,683 children and adolescents; the response rate was 59.3%.
Limits
Use of two or more supplements is uncommon, so those estimates are less reliable for some groups; and without standard definitions of product types, studies are hard to compare.
Sources
Based on Stierman B, Mishra S, Gahche JJ, Potischman N, Hales CM, "Dietary Supplement Use in Children and Adolescents Aged ≤19 Years — United States, 2017–2018," MMWR volume 69, number 43, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.cdc.gov
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