Background: Autoimmune mechanisms are involved in the etiology of Alopecia areata. It is also shown that Selenium has some effects on regulation of autoimmune mechanisms. Objective: To compare the plasma level of Selenium between those with and without Alopecia areata. Patients and Methods: In this case-control study, 29 patients with Alopecia areata referred to Razi hospital in Tehran, a...

BACKGROUND As defined by the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act 1997, such substances as herbs and dietary supplements fall under general Food and Drug Administration supervision but have not been closely regulated to date. We examined the thyroid hormone content in readily available dietary health supplements marketed for "thyroid support." METHODS Ten commercially available thyroid...

Dietary supplements are extensively used in the United States, especially by people age 50 and over. Surveys have shown that magazines and other news media are an important source of information about nutrition and dietary supplements for the American public. It is uncertain, however, whether magazines provide their readers with adequate information about the safety aspects of supplement use. T...

BACKGROUND Use of dietary supplements during pregnancy may give an important contribution to nutrient intake, and for nutrients like folate and vitamin D supplements are recommended. Our objective was to study use and contribution of dietary supplement to nutrient intake among women participating in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). METHODS This study is based on 40,108 wome...

In parts of Canada including Newfoundland and Labrador and among Aboriginal peoples, infants still consume evaporated milk (EM) formulas for cultural and economic reasons. At 3 and 6 months, full-term infants fed EM (n = 30) received low intakes of iron, thiamine, selenium and had higher weight velocity than breastfed (BF, n = 29) infants. EM infants had greater anemia, lowered transketolase ac...

BACKGROUND There has been little knowledge about dietary supplementation by the Chinese elderly. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the usage of dietary supplements by older adults in southern China. METHODS A total of 600 community-dwelling older adults were recruited from the outpatient clinics of three major hospitals in Foshan city between July 2007 and July 2008. Fa...