Socioeconomic, Lifestyle and Dietary Factors Associated with Dietary Supplement Use during Pregnancy

BACKGROUND Information on dietary supplement (DS) use during pregnancy is largely lacking. Besides, little is known about the share of DS use as self-medication versus such use following a physician's advice/prescription. Our aim was to evaluate DS use and its socioeconomic, lifestyle and dietary correlates among pregnant women participating in the French NutriNet-Santé cohort study. METHOD Data were collected by self-administered web-based questionnaires. Food intake was assessed by repeated 24 h dietary records. 903 pregnant women provided data on their DS use (both "regular" DS and medication containing mainly vitamins/minerals). Supplement users were compared to non-users by unconditional logistic regression. RESULTS DS use-in general and as regards folic acid in particular-was positively correlated with age, being primiparous, having higher income and belonging to a higher socioprofessional category. DS users had significantly higher dietary intakes of most vitamins and minerals. The proportion of DS users (e.g., those reporting use at least three days a week) increased significantly with the trimester of pregnancy (58.0%, 62.2% and 74.5%, respectively). 50.2% of women in their 1st trimester used folic acid. The proportion of iron users tripled from the 1st to the 3rd trimester (18.5 to 63.9%). DS use was prescribed or recommended by a physician in 86.7% of the cases. CONCLUSION This study provided new and detailed information on DS use and its correlates during pregnancy. Even in this relatively well-educated population, folic acid supplementation at the beginning of pregnancy was inadequate and was associated with socioeconomic and demographic disparities.