Supplement Use In Kids Is Rising, Including For Weight Loss & Bodybuilding, New Study Finds
Scary Mommy spoke with the researchers behind the survey. Here’s what they want parents to know.
Again and again, dietitians and pediatricians have told Scary Mommy the same thing — even picky children likely get enough nutrition from their diet and giving them a multivitamin isn’t really necessary. Additionally, in recent years, reports of melatonin poisonings in young kids have made national headlines. But in a world where parents have more access to health information, and supplement companies have more access to market to us and our teens, it’s no surprise that a new study found supplement use in kids has risen significantly in the past decade.
The study, titled, “Changes in Dietary Supplement Use Among Children and Adolescents in the United States, 2015-2016 to 2021-2023,” used data on children and adolescents aged 0 to 19 from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. It found that more than 35% of children and adolescents use daily dietary supplements. While 1 in 5 kids use a multivitamin, there was a significant increase in kids taking single vitamins, like vitamin D, zinc, and iron, from 2015 to 2023. There was also a notable increase in kids taking fiber, probiotics, and melatonin in that time, which the study authors state, “is an important safety concern given substantial increases in emergency department visits related to melatonin ingestions in pediatric populations, and evidence that the melatonin content of supplements often exceeds labeled quantity.”
When children reach adolescence, the most commonly used supplements split by gender. Adolescent boys most often use melatonin and bodybuilding supplements (whey protein, casein protein, branched-chain amino acids, creatine, creatine monohydrate, glutamine, beta-alanine, citrulline malate, arginine, or taurine). Adolescent girls most often use iron, zinc, probiotics, and supplements associated with weight loss claims, like capsaicin, L-carnitine, white kidney bean extract, and more.
What should parents take away from this study?
So, what’s the harm in a little extra fiber and probiotics, really? Supplements are not regulated by the FDA the same way medications are, meaning that their manufacturers do not have to prove to any authoritative body that their supplements contain the dosages printed on the label. In many cases, as with melatonin, studies have shown these dosages to be off by hundreds of percentage points, and to include ingredients that aren’t on the label, like CBD. This issue hasn’t been studied in other supplements for children, but the concern is there for experts.
“We have a whole bunch of different products in the market that contain hidden ingredients, and those ingredients are not necessarily safe, especially for vulnerable populations like kids,” says Brandy Recio, BS, lead author of the study and a PhD student at Keck School of Medicine of USC. Depending on the unknown ingredients in a supplement, Recio says this creates potential for adverse reactions with other medications children are taking, which parents couldn’t have foreseen.
“It’s only post-market that we find that there could be implicated in a whole array of adverse events,” she says.
Tell your child’s doctor and pharmacist everything they take.
To try and prevent bad drug interactions, you should inform your kid’s pediatrician of every supplement they take, even if they don’t ask. If you’re picking up a prescription at the pharmacy for your child, tell the pharmacist too. This will help them identify any potential bad interactions between your child’s supplements and their medications before they happen.
“We know at least one in four adolescents are on a prescription medication regularly, whether it’s for asthma, depression, ADHD, or allergies, or for adolescent girls, contraception sometime,” says study co-author Dr. Dima Qato, PharmD, MPH, associate professor of clinical pharmacy at USC. If your kid is one of them, a little due diligence will bring you major peace of mind.
Make sure you’re not doubling up.
Parents should read the labels of every supplement they give their child, says Qato. If you are giving a multivitamin that contains vitamin D and a separate vitamin D supplement, you run the risk of causing toxicity.
Spend a few minutes reading up.
It can hard to find reliable information on supplements online — it’s so saturated with advertisements and influencer marketing. You can search for research-based information about supplements on the NIH Department of Dietary Supplements, Recio says. Their supplement fact sheets gather up all the latest research on alternative medications and make it easy to understand.
The bottom line: “Just because something’s a supplement — whether it’s a vitamin, mineral or herbal or nutraceutical like melatonin — doesn’t mean it’s safe, especially in children and adolescents,” says Qato. “Supplements aren’t always needed, nor are they always safe, and oftentimes they could increase risk. So really reconsider giving them to your children or taking them, and make sure you’re aware of the risks, especially if you’re taking other medications.”
