College Kids Fond of Dietary Supplements
Excerpt By Melissa Schorr, Reuters Health

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Dietary supplements touted to help a range of conditions from colds to sleep problems appear to be particularly popular with US college students, the results of a survey show.

``We were able to document the extent to which these products were used by college students,'' Dr. Kathy Beerman of Washington State University in Pullman, told Reuters Health. ''It's higher than we thought it would be.''

Beerman and her colleagues surveyed 272 university undergraduates on their use of dietary supplements--excluding vitamins and minerals--within the past year. The survey focused on herbal supplements such as the purported cold remedy echinacea and non-herbal supplements such as melatonin, believed to aid in sleep.

The researchers found that a greater proportion of college students reported using such supplements than has been reported among the general adult population. Nearly half of the students said they had used at least one dietary supplement in the past year, compared with 10% to 20% of adults in similar surveys.

``It's higher than what other researchers have reported using more middle-aged adults,'' she noted. ``We did find students here use these at a higher rate.''

Beerman noted that supplements may be more popular among college students than older adults because the young adults may be more susceptible to claims made by supplement manufacturers. ''Students may be vulnerable to those ads,'' she said.

The researchers also found that female students and those studying health areas were slightly more likely to use supplements. However, those using the supplements did not differ significantly in other ways from students who did not use supplements.

The most popular supplements included echinacea, ginseng, St. John's wort, ginkgo biloba and ephedra--a stimulant advertised for weight loss and energy-boosting that reports have linked to serious health problems including heart attack.

Around three quarters of the students who used the supplements perceived them to be effective, according to the report in the Journal of American College Health.

Beerman noted that while adults use supplements for chronic diseases, the students seem to use them for different reasons, such as promoting weight loss and strength training and alleviating stress and drowsiness.

One fifth of the supplement users reported taking compounds such as creatine and ephedra in order to promote weight loss. However, the researchers judged that 81% of these students were of normal weight.

``When you see students taking them to promote weight loss, especially when by measures they don't need to be losing weight, that's a concern,'' Beerman said.

The investigators also found that more than half the students who experienced negative reactions to supplements--such as increased heart rate, sleep disturbances and skin irritation--continued using them. Eleven of these 19 students were taking ephedra-containing products.

Only about 10% of the students reported getting any information about supplement use from a healthcare practitioner, and just 41% who visited a doctor told him or her about their supplement use.

``Maybe they were reluctant to bring them up, maybe they weren't asked,'' Beerman noted. ``There's been such a tremendous growth in the use of these products that the likelihood of these products being used is pretty high. I just think we're not used to asking these questions, and there appears to be a need to ask.''

SOURCE: Journal of American College Health 2001;50:123-129.

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