Research paper
Demographic and lifestyle characteristics of functional food consumers and dietary supplement users
Study answer
What this study found
In 2000, Dutch adults reported low daily consumption of functional foods and supplements: 20% used multivitamin/mineral supplements daily; 3-9% daily for other items. Use patterns varied by product; women more likely to be consumers for most products; Ca tablets used by middle- and older-age groups; lemonade/sweets with added vitamins/minerals used by younger participants. Higher education linked to multivitamin/mineral use (significant after adjustment). Smoking associated with cholesterol-lowering margarine use; frequent exercise linked to more frequent use of foods with extra lactic acid…
- Study & population
- Design: cross-sectional observational study using self-administered questionnaires.
- Key limitation
- Cross-sectional design; reliance on self-reported data; potential panel bias; low prevalence of product use reducing statistical power; limited generalizability across products and time periods; use of a short dietary questionnaire may limit measurement detail.
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Open PDFOriginal abstract
Functional foods and/or supplements may be used in the context of a healthy lifestyle or as a means to compensate for an unhealthy lifestyle. Adverse long-term and/or cumulative effects of functional food or supplement intake are of public health con…