Americans are constantly searching for a magic pill that will give them more energy, help with weight loss, cure chronic diseases, and ultimately, be a fountain of youth.
Federal officials released figures Wednesday showing that the use of dietary supplements has grown since the early 1990s when it was about 42 percent.
The percentage of the US population who used at least one dietary supplement went up from 42% in 1988-1994 to 53% in 2003-2006. Supplement use was found to be highest in adults aged 20 and over, and was more common in women.
The biggest change was for calcium. Two-thirds of women 60 and older take it, up from 28 percent in the early 1990s.
Experts note the ranks of the elderly have been growing, and include many women who have been encouraged for years to take calcium to help protect against osteoporosis.
Interestingly, there was a difference in calcium use between ethnicities, with non-Hispanic white women having the highest rate of use at 65%, followed by Mexican-American women at 52%. Black women were the least likely to use calcium supplements, and their rates did not significantly increase from the last study period.
Most people who take vitamins and other supplements are educated, have good incomes, eat pretty well and already get the nutrients they need from their diets, the surveys suggests.
Vitamin D supplement use also almost doubled in older women.
"It's almost like the people who are taking them aren't the people who need them," said Regan Bailey, a nutritional epidemiologist with the National Institutes of Health.
Federal surveys have only recently started asking people why they take supplements, Bailey said.
The government supports some supplements as an option for certain people - such as iron for women who are pregnant, folic acid for women thinking of getting pregnant and calcium for older women.
But health officials say people should talk to their doctors first, and consider enriched foods that can accomplish the same goal.
Another possible problem with increasing supplement use is that patients often fail to report it to their doctors. Certain supplements can cause drug interactions, possibly leading to harmful side effects.
