Prevalence and factors associated with dietary supplement use among Bangladeshi public university students: A cross-sectional study

Tareq, Md. Abu, Emi, Umme Habiba, Banna, Md. Hasan Al, Rezyona, Humayra, Seidu, Abdul-Aziz, Abid, Mohammad Tazrian, Tetteh, Justice Kanor, Sultana, Mst. Sadia, Kundu, Satyajit, Hasanuzzaman, Md., Mondal, Shuvajit, Mandal, Moumita, and Khan, Md. Shafiqul Islam (2022) Prevalence and factors associated with dietary supplement use among Bangladeshi public university students: A cross-sectional study. PLoS ONE, 17 (10). e0276343.

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Abstract

Introduction: The usage of dietary supplement (DS) such as vitamins, minerals, and fish oil has expanded, but there is limited data on their use by sub-populations such as university students. The study was aimed to investigate the prevalence of DS use among Bangladeshi university students and its associated factors.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 390 students was conducted from two public universities from Barishal Division in Bangladesh using a structured questionnaire with 72 questions divided into five sections: sociodemographic, knowledge, opinions, and attitudes, types of DS, reasons and sources for using DS, and adverse reactions after taking DS. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were utilized to estimate the results.

Results: Among all the students, 15.6% students were using DS where only 7.7% of them used DS according to physicians' recommendation. Additionally, students used DS for general health and well-being, weight gaining and as a source of energy for physical and sporting activities, etc. The use of DS was significantly associated with female sex (AOR = 5.44, 95% CI: 2.18-13.52), >= 25 years age (AOR = 0.08, 95% CI: 0.01-0.67), underweight (AOR = 5.86, 95% CI: 1.95-17.62), having major illness (AOR = 6.99, 95% CI: 1.98-24.70) and good knowledge of DS (AOR = 2.64, 95% CI: 1.23-5.64).

Conclusion: This study provides new findings on DS use and its correlates in Bangladeshi students which may be used by the policymakers to improve DS usage among students. Adaptation of an appropriate program is recommended to educate students on proper and safer ways of using DS.

Item ID: 77141
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1932-6203
Copyright Information: © 2022 Tareq et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Date Deposited: 28 Dec 2022 08:52
FoR Codes: 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4206 Public health > 420699 Public health not elsewhere classified @ 100%
Downloads: Total: 430
Last 12 Months: 95
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