Does anyone know what percentage of the population take vitamins?

Question

I'm looking to find out what percentage of the population take vitamin supplements/pills like Vitamin C, Omega, B stress etc. Mainly focused on western populations who I think are more into this habit - US, Europe, Australasia.

Answer 1

Hi Paul.

According to researchers at the Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institutes of Health, the use of dietary supplements (in the U.S.) has been estimated to range from 40% to 68%. (1)

According to the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988-94, (NHANES III), "Approximately 40% of the U.S. population 2 months of age and older reported taking some type of dietary supplement in NHANES III, and the leading supplements taken were multivitamin / multiminerals (22%), multivitamins plus vitamin C (15%), vitamin C as a single vitamin (13), other dietary supplements such as herbal and botanical supplements (7%), and vitamin E as a single vitamin (6%)." (2)

Hope this info. is helpful. Best wishes.

P.S. I wonder how 2 month olds were able to 'report' taking supplements?