Prevalence of functional supplement use among Korean adolescents.

Functional supplements are intended not only to provide nutrients, but also to increase the physical and mental well-being of their consumer. Based on increasing demand to reduce health risks and improve health quality, the functional supplement market has expanded; it was estimated to be worth over US$80 billion worldwide in 2008 (Vergari et al., 2010). Given the abundant use of supplements, doubts regarding their benefits and risks represent a public health concern (Pascal, 2009). It is therefore important to identify the national status of functional supplement usage. In this study, we surveyed the current prevalence and types of functional supplements including herbal medicines among middleand high-school students using questionnaires. A total of 4,709 students (2,458 males and 2,251 females, aged 13-19 years), including 2,254 middleschool (650 males and 1,604 females) and 2,455 high-school students (1,808 males and 647 females), from four schools in Daejeon, South Korea, were included as subjects. The comparisons of the frequency and choice of functional supplements were analysed using Chi-square test with SPSS (SPSSs 18.0K for Windows; SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). As shown in table 1, 35.8% of the students consumed at least one type of functional supplement or herbal products. The average prevalence of functional supplement use was higher among high-school students (40.7% total, 40.6% males and 40.8% females) than middleschool students (30.5% total, 29.5% males and 30.9% females). The statistical analysis showed significant difference between male and female students (p < 0.01) as well as middleand high-school students (p < 0.01). We also surveyed the type of functional supplements which the students were consuming. The students consumed primarily multivitamins (19.5%), ginseng products (9.0%), mineral supplements (5.9%), herbal medicines (4.5%), and others (2.7%) as multiple-choice. Significant difference of choice for functional supplements was observed between male and female (p < 0.01), as well as middleand high-school students (p < 0.01) respectively.