HHS HealthBeat (March 13, 2009)

Kids on Supplements

Listen to Tip Interested? Take the Next Step

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

A lot of children and teens take vitamin and mineral supplements. National survey data indicate about one third of people between 2 and 17 years used supplements in a given month.

Researcher Ulfat Shaikh of UC Davis Children’s Hospital says some of the kids might need them. For instance, kids who don’t get enough dairy, or who face hunger because their families can’t provide adequate food consistently, might benefit.

[Ulfat Shaikh speaks] But Shaikh suspects supplements aren’t needed for most:

"Children who their parents described as being healthy, essentially were the ones who were actually using these supplements the most. So most kids who do use these supplements – many of them many of them not really need them."

The study in Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: March, 13 2009