COVID-19 Pandemic and Consumption of Dietary Supplements among Adult Residents of Lithuania

Rokas Arlauskas, Donatas Austys and Rimantas Stukas
Additional contact information
Rokas Arlauskas: Department of Public Health, Institute of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, M. K. Čiurlionio 21/27, LT-03101 Vilnius, Lithuania
Donatas Austys: Department of Public Health, Institute of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, M. K. Čiurlionio 21/27, LT-03101 Vilnius, Lithuania
Rimantas Stukas: Department of Public Health, Institute of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, M. K. Čiurlionio 21/27, LT-03101 Vilnius, Lithuania

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-14

Abstract: In the light of the changing pattern of the consumption of dietary supplements among adults in other countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, we aim to assess the prevalence of the consumption of dietary supplements with respect to the purpose of consumption and sociodemographic factors among adults in Lithuania. This study included two samples of adults from Lithuania: 870 in 2019 and 1600 in 2021. Anonymous original questionnaires were used to collect the data about the consumption of dietary supplements before and during the pandemic. The consumption of dietary supplements was prevalent among 67.2% and 78.1% of the samples, respectively. Although the majority (73.7%) of the respondents indicated that the pandemic had no effect on their use of dietary supplements, every fourth respondent’s (24.6%) consumption increased. In 2021, the consumption was more prevalent among females, respondents with university education, urban citizens, employed respondents, respondents without children, with higher income, and those who knew a person with COVID-19 ( p < 0.05). During the pandemic, the strengthening of the immune system and the body were the leading reasons for consumption (49.0% and 43.5%, respectively). The consumption of dietary supplements appropriate for these purposes increased among 63.3% and 66.9% of respondents, respectively. To conclude, the consumption of dietary supplements among adults in Lithuania increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: dietary supplements; adults; Lithuania; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9591/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9591/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9591-:d:880110

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().