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) was recruited from 10 sites to determine the prevalence, frequency, duration and type of supplement use. Use information, demographics and medical/nutritional history were collected with an interview-administered questionnaire. Supplement use included both vitamin-mineral and/or 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 teas were the most popular herbal preparations. The predominant reason for use was to "improve one's health". Initial results suggest that older adults are learning about, using and purchasing these supplements from a variety of sources. With this common use and the concerns over interactions with prescription medications, further work is required to determine if these findings are consistent in a more diverse, randomly selected older Canadian population.