Vitamin-mineral supplementation and use of herbal preparations among community-living older adults

Basic information on seniors' use of supplements is lacking In this study, a convenience sample of community-living older adults (n=128) he,vas recrui ted from 10 sites to determine the prevalence, frequency, duration and type of supplement use. Use information, demographics and medical/nutritional h istory were collected-with an interview-administered questionnaire. Supplem ent use included both vitamin-mineral and/for herbal preparations. Average age of participants was 76 years and 73% Were female. Users comprised 79.9% of the sample. Vitamin E was the most common vitamin-mineral and herbal te as were the most popular herbal preparations. The predominant reason for us e was to "improve ones health. Initial results suggest that older adults ar e learning about, using and purchasing these supplements from a, variety of sources. With this common use and the concerns over interactions xvith pre scription medications, further work is required to determine if these findi ngs are consistent in a more diverse, randomly selected older Canadian popu lation.