Amid the increasing use of supplements due to people's growing interest in their health and deregulation, there have been cases of supplements adversely affecting people's health and interacting with drugs. For this reason, pharmacists are often required to give guidance on the use of supplements.
We conducted a questionnaire survey concerning the use of supplements by persons visiting the Gifu Pharmaceutical University Pharmacy, which had the following findings. Of those surveyed, 41.8% had used supplements. A large number of younger people used vitamin and mineral preparations for health maintenance and dieting purposes, and many older people used various supplements for health maintenance and as an additional treatment for diseases. Eighty-five percent of those surveyed said that they read the precautions for use, but only 55% checked warnings and adverse effects and just 59% said they were aware of interactions with drugs, indicating a lack of awareness of the risks of supplements. When pharmacists are consulted concerning the use of supplements, they should base their advice on knowledge of the patient's use of drugs and emphasize the need to improve their lifestyle so that they do not have to depend on supplements.
