Prevalence and Characteristic of Dietary Supplement Users in Malaysia: Data From the Malaysian Adult Nutrition Survey (MANS) 2014

BACKGROUND: There has been an increase trend of dietary supplements intake among Malaysians over the last decade. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and characteristic of dietary supplements users among adults in Malaysia. METHODS: Data of 3000 respondents aged 18–59 years from the Malaysian Adult Nutrition Survey (MANS) 2014 were utilized. A multi-stage stratified sampling method was employed and eligible respondent from each household was selected using Kish method. Validated questionnaire was used to gather information on vitamin/mineral supplements (VMS) and food supplements (FS). Descriptive analysis and multiple logistic regressions were conducted using SPSS version 20.0. RESULTS: The prevalence of VMS and FS intakes among adults in Malaysian were 28.1% and 34.0% respectively. Women, older aged adults with higher education level and monthly income were more likely to consume dietary supplements. Vitamin C and multivitamin/ multimineral, were the commonest VMS consumed by the respondents. The most common FS taken were fish oil and royal jelly. The main causes for dietary supplements intake include for health reasons, doctor’s prescription, to increase energy level and for beauty. CONCLUSIONS: About one third of the Malaysian adults took variety of dietary supplements. Thus, information based on the scientific evidences of health benefits for each type of the dietary supplements is needed to enable consumers to make informed choices on the dietary supplements.