US adults still in the dark about supplements
supplements they should be taking, according to a national survey
released today by San Diego based Life Force International (LFI), a
manufacturer of liquid whole food natural nutritional supplements.
The survey suggests that more than half of a sample of US adults - 78 percent of women and 66 percent of men - say they find it difficult to know which dietary supplements they should take for an optimum level of health.
The survey, commissioned by LFI and conducted by Market Enhancement Group, examined nutritional supplement preferences among 400 men and women between the ages of 35 and 55.
Over 70 per cent of all adults surveyed agreed strongly with the statement: "With so many different types of vitamins and nutritional supplements, it's hard for me to figure out which is the best combination to take."
Ron Hillman, president and CEO of Life Force International expressed his surprise that with supplements being so widely used, there is still much confusion as to which supplements are most effective.
The last survey which had focussed on these issues was commissioned by the Dietary Supplement Information Bureau and carried out by Harris Interactive in 2001. It too suggested that: "A huge information gap often exists between the state of scientific knowledge and everyday practices."
For example, it quoted recent data showing that three in five Americans incorrectly believed that calcium is important primarily for women after menopause, rather than throughout life, and that one in five Americans erroneously thought supplements produced a benefit within a week.
As the NNFA points out that although there is now more nutritional information out there for the consumer than ever before in leaflets and on product labels, it does not seem that the consumer is engaging with it. A survey carried out by the organisation in 2000 proved that only 57 per cent of those asked stated that they always read the label of a dietary supplement.
