Author
Adviser
Use of herbal products and dietary supplements are common among Filipinos. Additionally, dietary supplement usage has been reported to be more prevalent among university students than the general population. Due to potential misuse or over supplementation, there are many risks that are associated with unsupervised intake on dietary supplements for young adults. The aim of this study is to determine the perceptions and usage of undergraduate nutrition students regarding dietary supplements in University of the Philippines Los Baños, Laguna. A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted using a self-administered online questionnaire through Google Forms. Chi-square goodness of fit test, two-tailed t-test, and logistic regression analysis were done for statistical analysis. There is an overall neutral perception for both users (3.01 ± 1.28) and non-users (2.90 ± 1.45) regarding dietary supplements for its therapeutic benefits, effectiveness, and safety with no significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.5797). When the perception answers were looked at individually, students demonstrated unsatisfactory judgment of facts regarding supplements as most of them erroneously believe in statements that are regarded as incorrect by scientific data or government product regulations. Perceived health benefits and perceived safety are part of the leading factors that affect dietary supplement usage as users have more appreciative perceptions regarding supplements as compared to non-users.x Majority of the nutrition students had taken or are taking dietary supplements (74%; n = 57). Vitamin C (66.67%) was the most common dietary supplement used by the students followed by multivitamins and minerals (29.82%). The most popular reason for the dietary supplement use was for improvement of immune system function (78.95%) followed by promotion of good health and energy (56.14%) and improvement of nutrient intake (56.14%). Majority of the students reported that they mainly get their information about dietary supplements from health care professionals (71.93%) followed by product labels (70.18%) and internet (57.89%). The odds of using dietary supplements decreases as the year level of the nutrition students increases (OR = 0.9074; p = 0.0345). Additionally, it is more likely to have a greater number of dietary supplement users in higher values of characteristics of supplement use such as amount of intake (OR = 1.1090; p = 0.0090), frequency of use (OR = 1.1338; p = <0.0001), and average monthly cost (OR = 1.0645; p = 0.0044).
The nutrition students do not have acceptable perceived general knowledge on the effectiveness, safety, and product regulations of dietary supplements. There is a high prevalence of dietary supplement use among college nutrition students despite scientific evidence disproving some popular beliefs in the effectiveness and safety of such products. Thus, the necessity or encouragement on putting more emphasis on the topic of dietary supplements in educational lectures in the curriculum of BS Nutrition must be recognized as the knowledge of students concerning effectiveness and safety of such substances need further improvement.