March Blog Summary

The reason for choosing the research articles this month was because dietary supplementation, in my opinion, is a controversial topic amongst health care professionals. As demonstrated by the articles, dietary supplements are increasingly being used by the American public, especially amongst adolescents. Therefore, I was curious to find out what future dietitians thought about the subject.


It seems from the discussion for Question 1 that most bloggers thought the general public should first try to maintain an adequate diet through their food choices. If one's diet is lacking in essential nutrients and these needs cannot or will not be met by food then it is appropriate to resort to dietary supplements only after consulting with a healthcare professional.


Jamie and Meredith both made a great point that adolescents especially should talk with a health care professional, preferably their primary care physician, about supplements before going out and purchasing an expensive and non-regulated product.


Anna also agreed that food is definitely the best way to meet your nutrient needs but she made a good point by saying this is not always realistic so a dietary supplement could be quite beneficial to a child or adolescent who is still growing and developing.


Many agreed with Kathy when she said that if a child is on a supplement then parents have to e careful because many children's multivitamins are made to taste like candy so kids may want to eat more than just one.


Finally, Rose thought that dietary supplement use can be essential for people in certain disease states and Stephanie also said that supplementation can be vital for those who lack important vitamins and minerals like Vitamin D.


For Question 2, the majority of bloggers agreed that amino acids and herbal supplements should not have been included in this study because then the topic would have been too broad with too many variables. However, most everyone also agreed that there should be a separate study done, researching amino acid and herbal supplement use amongst adolescents.


Kevin and Brooke both made valid points that amino acid and herbal supplements should have been kept separate because they are used for different reasons than a vitamin or mineral pill.


Liz thought that if the study was done using just amino acid and herbal supplements then there would be quite a few 11th graders using these supplements. Sarah G supported Liz by making a great reference to adolescent use of supplements by mentioning Ephedra and Korey Stringer.


Finally, Amy and Michela both thought that amino acid and herbal supplements should be looked at but the researchers should also ask why these teens are taking supplements, who they received their information from and what is their general knowledge on the subject.


To end this month's discussion, I wanted to see what research questions on dietary supplements future RDs would be interested in finding out. Overall, the variety of interests each person had was very impressive and made me want to learn more on supplement use.


Just to sum up a few responses to Question 3, Stephanie wanted to learn about supplement use amongst cancer patients, Melanie wanted to look at protein supplements and college-aged males, Sarah U, Kara and Rose all wanted to look at weight loss supplement use amongst college-aged females while Sarah G agreed but changed the population to high school-aged males and females.


Kathy C wanted to look at "superfood" supplement use, Jamie, supplements for the immune system and Meredith wanted to see the prevalence of use of probiotics and cleanses.


Finally, Kevin wanted to examine the knowledge people had on dietary supplements, Anna wanted to find out where people where getting their information and Amy wanted to ask why people are using dietary supplements.


In conclusion, I think most people agreed that supplement use should be a last resort if eating foods is not contributing all of the necessary nutrients in one's diet. And if a person was considering using a dietary supplement, then it would be beneficial to first speak with a health care professional. Dietary supplements are not regulated by the government like other medicines and can be just as dangerous so as future health care professionals we need to find out why our clients are or are wanting to take dietary supplements, what their lifestyle and eating patterns are like and the various products that are out there in order to be able to give them an expert opinion. Because after all, we are the experts!