Nutrition knowledge, health benefits and use of nutrition suppliements among older adults in Northwestern Wisconsin

Abstract

The research instrument was designed to answer the following questions: 1. Does nutrition knowledge have an effect on the use of vitamin and mineral supplements in older adults? 2. Do health beliefs affect the usage of vitamin and mineral supplements of the seniors? The survey was developed by researcher and was divided into three sections. Section I asked elderly persons to record demographic information and nutritional supplement use. Section II included 13 true/false questions and 7 multiple choice items to identify elderly persons’ nutrition knowledge. Section III included 9 attitude statements regarding nutrition supplements. The sample for this study were 82 elderly persons who participated in Title III Nutrition Program of the Elderly in Eau Claire County and Trempealeau County, Wisconsin. There were 25 males and 57 females. Fifty-three subjects (64.6%) reported they consumed some type of vitamin or mineral supplements: 44 of them consumed supplements daily, 2 persons weekly, and 3 persons took supplements less than once per week. Among all supplement users, calcium was the most commonly used supplement (31.7%), followed by multivitamins and minerals (30.5%), vitamin E (29.3%) and vitamin C (28.0%). The mean score on the nutrition knowledge test was 10.87 ± 3.20 for supplement users and 10.24 ± 3.05 for non-users. There was no significance difference on nutrition knowledge scores between supplement users and non-users. The mean score of the health belief statements was 3.37 ± .62 for supplement users and 2.93 ± .42 for non-users. There was a significant difference in the usage of vitamin and mineral supplements based on health beliefs of seniors (t = 3.08, p < .005). In addition, there were significant differences of the following health belief statements between supplement users and non-user: (1) taking vitamin and mineral supplements contribute to their overall health (t =2.32, p < 0,05); (2) they feel better when taking supplements (t =2.14, p <0.05); and (3) they can not fill all the nutrients needs by food alone (t = 2.84, p < 0.01). Responses to the nutrition knowledge quiz indicated that nutrition knowledge did not account for the use of vitamin and mineral supplements in elderly subjects. However, there was a statistically significant difference on health belief scores between supplement users and non-users. The overall health belief score was significantly lower (p < 0.01) for those who did no take vitamin and mineral supplements than for those who used supplements. Therefore, it was concluded that older adults were more likely to be supplement users if they revealed a more favorable attitude and stronger beliefs toward supplements use