Dietary Supplement Use Among U.S. Adults Has Increased Since NHANES III (1988–1994)

Dietary supplements can contain nutrients in amounts as high as or higher
than the Institute of Medicine’s Recommended Dietary Reference Intakes,
therefore contributing substantially to total nutrient intake. Dietary
supplements are widely available to U.S. consumers, and monitoring their use
over time is an important component of the National Nutrition Monitoring
System (1). Failure to include these nutrients when assessing the adequacy
of diets and nutrition in the U.S. population may lead to inaccurate and
misleading results. This report provides estimates of dietary supplement use
for specific population groups over time. In addition to overall use of dietary
supplements, this report focuses on estimates for specific nutrients consumed
through dietary supplement use.