| The popularity of dietary supplement use in the United States has been increasing since the 1990's. This cross-sectional study explores the patterns of dietary supplement use among 1326 active duty United States Marines.; Participants were men 17 to 50 years of age who were given a self-administered questionnaire assessing dietary supplement use and demographic, health, physical fitness, and behavioral characteristics. The majority of participants did not have any college instruction (67%), were unmarried (68%), and were enlisted personnel (97%). Dietary supplements use within the previous year was reported by 703 (53%) participants. Detailed information was provided by 605 (86%) supplement users. Among those who provided detailed information, the most common types of supplements were muscle mass/strength aids (58%) followed by energy boosters (27%) and stimulants (25%). Weight loss and vitamin/mineral supplement use were reported by an equal number of participants (24%). The least commonly used supplements were those used for general health (8%) and mood/mental health (3%). Negative effects were seldom noted as a reason for discontinuing a product.; Multivariate logistic regression identified several predictors of use that were common across supplement category type including age. For stimulants, participants 20–25 year olds were more likely to use than participants aged 26 years or older (OR = 2.24; 95% CI = 1.21–4.12). For muscle mass/strength aid supplements, those <20 and 20–25 years of age were more likely to use than those aged 26 years and older (OR = 2.84; 95% CI = 1.52, 5.31 and OR = 2.17; 95% CI = 1.38, 3.42, respectively). For vitamins/minerals, participants under 20 years of age and those 20–25 were less likely to use than those aged 26 years or older (OR = 0.38; 95% CI = 0.17, 0.85 and OR = 0.50; 95% CI = 0.30, 0.84, respectively). Additional predictors for the different categories of dietary supplements include education, BMI, physical fitness, stress, exercising for competition, general health, and illicit drug use.; These results suggest that there are differential patterns and predictors of dietary supplement use in active duty Marines. Results from comprehensive studies investigating dietary supplement use such as this are limited. Further studies should continue to investigate the patterns and dietary supplement use among military and civilian populations. |
