There is concern about the occurrence of adverse events related to the use of supplements containing vitamins and minerals, but the actual condition is not understood well. Therefore, we examined the characteristics of adverse events due to the use of supplements containing vitamins and minerals by extracting the adverse events from the database in “Information system on safety and effectiveness for health food(HFNET)”, which collects health food reports both inside and outside the country. Eighty-five adverse cases (domestic 24, foreign 61) were extracted from the HFNET by July 2016. The data revealed that the causal factors of adverse events due to the use of supplements containing vitamins and minerals were their overdose, their use as the medicine, their concomitant use with other medicines, and their use by infants and sick people. Although many cases were due to the use of vitamin D supplement, most of the cases were related with its overdose found in overseas. To ensure the safety of supplements containing vitamins and minerals, it would be necessary to pay attention to their use by vulnerable individuals including infants and sick people, their overdose, and their use in combination with other medicines.
