Question 2
Do you think the researchers should have included amino acid and herbal supplements along with "vitamin and mineral pills" in this study? Why or why not?
posted by Bethany @ 7:09 PM
26 comments
ISU Dietetic Internship Journal Club
Objective: To become familiar with current scientific literature on a variety of nutrition topics and to gain experience in gathering, organizing, critically evaluating, presenting and facilitating group discussion of the literature and the implications to practice.
26 Comments:
I guess it wouldn't hurt but I don't think it's necessary. As the study mentions a vitamin/mineral supplement is the most common supplement consumed and one in four adolescents are taking one. I would assume that if someone were taking herbal or amino acid supplements they have or are taking a vitamin/mineral supplement. The purpose of this study was to examine dietary patterns associated with supplements so I feel that looking at the vitamin/mineral is enough however, like I said it wouldn't hurt- I would guess the results would be similar if amino acid and herbal were included.
I don't think that was necessary for this study, but it would have been interesting to see how many of these individuals were taking herbal supplements in comparison to their dietary habits. I think future research may want to include herbal supplements and amino acid supplementation, but I thought there were already several variables going on with this research and the results were still noteworthy.
I think that if the researchers included other supplements into this study that the scope would become too broad. However, I think it would be great for future studies to look at these other supplement forms and examine the health beliefs that adolescents have toward them.
I believe that amino acids and herbal supplements could have been included in this study. It is possible that 11th grade students could be taking those supplements in addition to vitamin and mineral pills. Additionally, I believe another study could focus on just those supplements. It would be interesting to compare the data between amino acids/herbal supplements and vitamin/minerals.
I don't think it was necessary to include the amino acid and herbal supplements since this study included several variables already. It would be very interesting to see a study that included only AA and herbal supplements and compare that data to this data. For some reason, I think that the results would be different since MVI are so common and parents tend to encourage them as a nutritional "insurance policy" and AA/herbal supplements are not as mainstream and are often abused or used for wt loss/muscle building.
I think that research on herbal and amino acid type supplements would have been very interesting in this population. The supplement market is dangerous and not regulated by any governing body, and kids taking these supplements could do serious undo damage to their livers, kidneys, etc. The damage of unregulated substances like Ephedra have killed professional athletes (Korey Stringer, etc.) and could be really dangerous. Kids are more willing to use substances without considering the long term consequences on their organ systems. It would be very beneficial to get an idea of how frequent herbal supplements are used in this population.
I agree that perhaps the scope of this study would become too broad if herbal supplements were included in the research. This identifies a need for an additional study.
I think it would be interesting to see what other types of supplements adolescents are using. I’m sure that the results would show usage of amino acid and herbal supplements, as well as vitamin/mineral supplements. I think that that could be a good follow-up study to this one, as it would provide an overall picture of supplements that adolescents are using.
I think including amino acids and herbal supplements in the study would have been beneficial but there may have been too many variables. I would imagine high school students are using herbal supplements as well as amino acid supplements but maybe a new study could be created to include these. I think creating a study using high school athletes and the use of amino acid supplements would be very interesting. Gaining an understanding of why students choose the supplements they choose would also be interesting. Is there pressure from coaches, parents, other students, the media etc??
Sarah G.- I agree that it would be beneficial to know how frequent the use of supplements is among this population. It is scary to think that adolescents are able to go into a health food store and purchase supplements that could potentially cause a great deal of harm. I also think you are right about them not considering the long term damage a supplement can do to their body. Not to mention, there are so many people that work in stores that sell supplements who have wild beliefs that are not backed by science. I worked in a health food store and some of the things I heard people recommend are completely ridiculous and scary. People also get wrapped up in the fact that they think natural supplements are safe just because they are natural when this is definitely not the case. I'm all for supplements when they are necessary but many times I think they are abused.
I do think they should have looked into whether these adolescents were taking amino acid and herbal supplements. I feel that amino acid supplement use might be significant particularly with most of the males reporting that they would like to gain weight. That finding leads me to believe that they would also be supplementing with protein to help them put on weight. As for the herbal supplements I am just curious whether adolescents use them and what kinds they would use and for what purposes.
Kathy, I do agree with you that if the researchers looked into amino acid and herbal supplements that the study could have become too broad. It would make a great future study using the same population. I still am curious if amino acid supplementation would be increased in those males who wanted to gain weight.
No I think this study was fine the way it was. It could be done using amino acid and herbal supplements and it would be an interesting study. I feel that the supplement categories should be kept seperate because the people taking them would have completely different reasons for doing so. That would only have added another variable to the study.
I do not believe the researchers should have included amino acid and herbal supplements with this study because I feel that people may have different reasons for taking those types of supplements (such as weight loss or disease and pain treatments) than with the vitamin and mineral supplements. Herbal supplements are such a large category and in attempting to relate dietary supplements to dietary activity behaviors, I feel as though it would have only complicated the study. I think those types of supplements would be better left for a different study.
No, I don't think they should have included aa and herbals as supplements. People taking MVI supplements tend to view them as a way to meet their nutritional needs other than through food. However, the reasons people typically have for amino acid and herbal use is to enhance their health, not just meet their needs. The problem here is that the herbals and amino acids are much more likely to have negative impact on health, and people typically don't talk to their doctors about them, so they can interact with medications, etc.
Sarah U, I agree that doing a study that does look at AA and herbals and comparing it to the results of this study would be interesting, but that this study itself already had enough variables and results without making the questions/data more complicated.
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It would be interesting to assess the populations' knowledge of herbal and amino acid supplements. Though, they may not be similar in purpose to other dietary supplements and may skew the data as this topic already needs further research for validation. I, myself, would need to further research dietary supplements to understand their mechanisms.
No, I don't think researchers should have included amino acid and herbal supplements in the "vitamin and mineral pills" category. They could have created a seperate category which included amino acid and herbal supplements, and then tested the prevalence of use. I think that there is enough of a difference between these two categories, that they should be tested independently. It would definitely be interesting to know the prevalence of amino acid and herbal supplements in this population. A great direction for future research.
I do not think it would be necessary to include amino acid and herbal supplements in this study just because, as many people acknowledged, it is important to be very specific and not have a broad topic in your research. I do think it would be interesting to know this information and maybe another study should be done. The one thing I wish they had asked the students is why are they taking supplements, who suggested it to them, and what health benefits do they believe they are getting from them?
Jamie, I agree with your comment that it is scary to think that adolescents can go into a health food store and just grab herbs/supplements off the shelf without really knowing what they are doing. As I mentioned in my previous post I think it is necessary to understand why students are using supplements and who is giving them this idea.
I feel that it would be interesting too include these two categories, however it would not be necessary. I think that there was already a lot of components within this study. Perhaps another study could be done on amino acid and herbal supplements in the future.
I do not believe that is necessary for this study but it would be interesting to see if the adolescents who are taking vitamins/minerals are also using herbal supplementation of AA's. The purpose of this study was to look at multi vitamins not herbal supplementation. I feel that very few students would have been using herbal supplementation.
I believe they should have been included. From my understanding, many of the individuals in this study were purposely using dietary supplments for some particular benefit. So it would make sense that the same thought and process would take place with herbal or amino acid supplments so I see no reason they shouldn't also be included.
Kathy and Liz,
You bring up good points of the study's scope becoming too broad with the inclusion of herbal and amino acid supplements. I would also like to see a comparison of two such studies if they could not be combined into one large study.
I thought many of you brought up a great point about the adolescents using these types of supplements not considering the long term damage they can do to their body. In addition to more extensive nutrition education, this population definitely needs to be educated on where, and form who, to get their nutrition information.
Like Jamie said, just because they are natural, does not mean they are safe, especially not in large amounts.
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