Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected the Situation of Using Dietary Supplements?

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: This study was conducted to examine the use of dietary supplements by nursing department students of a foundation university during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: The sample group of this cross-sectional study consisted of 216 first-year nursing students who were studying at a foundation university between November and December 2020. The data were collected socio-demographic characteristics and concern form for the COVID-19 pandemic, habits of using dietary supplements questionnaire, and the Nutrition Behavior Scale. RESULTS: While 68.5% of the students did not use dietary supplements before the COVID-19 pandemic, 45.4% of them stated that they used dietary supplements from the beginning of the pandemic. It was found that 32.4% of the students useddietary supplements to be resistant to diseases, and the most vitamin and mineral supplements were used with a rate of 31.5%. While 19% of the students accessed dietary supplements by researching themselves, 39.8% of them stated that they were affected by the advertisements in the media. 67.1% of the students think that they eat healthy, 60.2% of them stated that they skip meals during the day. The mean score obtained by the participants from the nutritional behavior scale with the highest score of 24 was found to be 12.47 +- 3.61. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: It was determined that the use of unconscious dietary supplements increased and the level of healthy eating behaviors was low due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords

• pandemic
• dietary supplements
• nutrition