SynthesisBMC complementary and alternative medicine2014
A systematic review and meta-analysis on the prevalence of dietary supplement use by military personnel.
Synthesis in BMC complementary and alternative medicine, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Systematic Review of the Effect of Dietary Supplements on Cognitive Performance in Healthy Young Adults and Military Personnel.Nutrients · 2020Pooled it
- Dietary Ingredients Requiring Further Research Before Evidence-Based Recommendations Can Be Made for Their Use as an Approach to Mitigating Pain.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2019Pooled it
- Conditional Recommendations for Specific Dietary Ingredients as an Approach to Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: Evidence-Based Decision Aid for Health Care Providers, Participants, and Policy Makers.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2019Guideline
- Prevalence of Dietary Supplement Use by Athletes: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2016Pooled it
- Incoming United States Army Basic Combat Trainees Report Lower Dietary Supplement Use than Active-Duty Soldiers.Current developments in nutrition · 2026Article
- Improved Diet Quality in Elite and Entry-Level Military Women Compared With Civilian-Matched Counterparts.Current developments in nutrition · 2025Article
- Assessment of the Use of Food Supplements by Military Personnel: Study Protocol and Results.Nutrients · 2023Article
- The Prevalence of Dietary Supplement Usage in Military Aviators.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Prevalence of and Factors Associated with Dietary Supplement Use in a Stratified, Random Sample of US Military Personnel: The US Military Dietary Supplement Use Study.The Journal of nutrition · 2021Article
- Peer-to-Peer Social Media Communication About Dietary Supplements Used for Weight Loss and Sports Performance Among Military Personnel: Pilot Content Analysis of 11 Years of Posts on Reddit.JMIR formative research · 2021Article
- The effect of food ration bar enriched with β-alanine, L-arginine, and Nigella sativa on performance and inflammation following intense military training: A double-blind randomized clinical trial.Food science & nutrition · 2021Article
- A Public Health Issue: Dietary Supplements Promoted for Brain Health and Cognitive Performance.Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.) · 2020Review
- Current regulatory guidelines and resources to support research of dietary supplements in the United States.Critical reviews in food science and nutrition · 2020Review
- Prevalence and Predictors of Dietary and Nutritional Supplement Use in the Australian Army: A Cross-Sectional Survey.Nutrients · 2019Article
- Dietary Ingredients as an Alternative Approach for Mitigating Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: Evidence-Based Recommendations for Practice and Research in the Military.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2019Article
- How Evidence-Based Recommendations May Direct Policy Decisions Regarding Appropriate Selection and Use of Dietary Ingredients for Improving Pain.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2019Article
- Capturing the Use of Dietary Supplements in Electronic Medical Records: Room for Improvement.Nutrition today · 2019Article
- Adverse Effects of Nutraceuticals and Dietary Supplements.Annual review of pharmacology and toxicology · 2018Review
- Prevalence of supplement use in recreationally active Kazakhstan university students.Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2018Article
- The Complementary Health Approaches for Pain Survey (CHAPS): Validity testing and characteristics of a rural population with pain.PloS one · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough a number of studies have been conducted on the prevalence of dietary supplement (DS) use in military personnel, these investigations have not been previously summarized. This article provides a systematic literature review of this topic.
methodsLiterature databases, reference lists, and other sources were searched to find studies that quantitatively examined the prevalence of DS use in uniformed military groups. Prevalence data were summarized by gender and military service. Where there were at least two investigations, meta-analysis was performed using a random model and homogeneity of the prevalence values was assessed.
resultsThe prevalence of any DS use for Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps men was 55%, 60%, 60%, and 61%, respectively; for women corresponding values were 65%, 71%, 76%, and 71%, respectively. Prevalence of multivitamin and/or multimineral (MVM) use for Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps men was 32%, 46%, 47%, and 41%, respectively; for women corresponding values were 40%, 55%, 63%, and 53%, respectively. Use prevalence of any individual vitamin or mineral supplement for Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps men was 18%, 27%, 25%, and 24%, respectively; for women corresponding values were 29%, 36%, 40%, and 33%, respectively. Men in elite military groups (Navy Special Operations, Army Rangers, and Army Special Forces) had a use prevalence of 76% for any DS and 37% for MVM, although individual studies were not homogenous. Among Army men, Army women, and elite military men, use prevalence of Vitamin C was 15% for all three groups; for Vitamin E, use prevalence was 8%, 7%, and 9%, respectively; for sport drinks, use prevalence was 22%, 25% and 39%, respectively. Use prevalence of herbal supplements was generally low compared to vitamins, minerals, and sport drinks, ≤5% in most investigations.
conclusionsCompared to men, military women had a higher use prevalence of any DS and MVM. Army men and women tended to use DSs and MVM less than other service members. Elite military men appeared to use DSs and sport drinks more than other service members.
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Registered trials
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