Frequency of intake of vitamin and mineral preparations

Although most of the people in Germany meet their vitamin and mineral requirements by a mixed diet, the market volume of food supplements such as vitamin and mineral preparations is increasing. Vitamin and mineral preparations are frequently taken to compensate for damages to health caused by smoking, lack of physical exercise, unhealthy nutritional behaviour, etc. The importance of vitamin and mineral preparations is obvious also from the results of die third cross-sectional study (1994/95) of the MONICA Project Augsburg. At that time, 27.5 % of the women and 18.1 % of the men in the Augsburg area said that they supplemented their food by vitamin and mineral preparations. The results of this inquiry are presented and compared to the results of population studies in the USE and Europe.