Eureka! Institutional Repository

According to European regulations (Dir. 202/46/EK), “dietary supplements are defined as the food stuff that aim to supplement the normal diet and that can be regarded as condensed sources of nutrients or other substances with alimentary action, both separatly and in combination. The distribution happens in dosage forms like capsules, lozenge, tablets, pills and other similar forms, as well as powder sachets, liquid cartridges, drop dispensing bottles as well as similar forms of liquids and mixtures, that are intended for intake in pre-measured, small, unitary dosages”. In this research, 1.200 people originating from the municipalities of Kozani, Imathia and Thessaloniki have taken part. For the completion of the questionnaires we have worked with gyms, sports clubs and hospitals using people of all ages. This research aims to test, in what degree is the intake of supplements affected by factors like the sex, the age, the educational and economical level as well as the actual diet that is being followed. Furthermore the research looks into the type of supplements that are more commonly used, the reasons for this, and the desired results or side effects. After the completion of the questionnaires, all data was imported and processed in Microsoft Excel, where they were visualized in order to provide us with a global picture of the sample. For the accuracy of the statistical comparisons and the frequency analysis IBM SPSS Statistics22 was used. The processing of the data and the correlations that were discovered, have led to the following conclusions: Age, education and the level of knowledge regarding supplements were directly related to the usage, while sex seemed irrelevant. In what concerns the side effects, tachycardia seemed to be the most common and was most apparent in younger ages. What was more interesting is the fact that among the respondents that had previous knowledge about the side effects, only a very small percentage complied with the recommended daily dosage, while this percentage was even higher among the respondents with no prior knowledge of the side effects. In regard to whose suggestions do consumers trust more for the usage of supplements, doctors and pharmacists scored much higher than dieticians