Cardiologists, dermatologists and orthopods: They're Using Supplements

Score one for the good guys like me who have been educating doctors (and the public) in the safe and effective use of supplements for many decades!

This is great ammunition for our argument that supplements are effective and they do not cause deaths.

And the statistics are very good.

Health Practitioners Increasingly Turning to Supplements12/11/2008
WASHINGTON—Cardiologists, dermatologists and orthopedic specialists are taking dietary supplements for their own well-being, and recommending them to their patients for overall wellness and for reasons related to their specialties, according to new data from the “Life...supplemented” Healthcare Professionals (HCP) Impact Study. In addition, the practitioners surveyed generally believe usage of dietary supplements by consumers is more popular than it was just five years ago.

“We learned from the 2007 HCP Impact Study that physicians and nurses are taking supplements as part of a proactive wellness regimen that also includes healthy diet and regular exercise,” said Judy Blatman, senior vice president of communications at the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), which manages the campaign. “With the second year of this study, we were able to dive into specific specialties and find similar trends, further demonstrating the important role for doctors in incorporating dietary supplements as an integral part of wellness.”

Some of the specific highlights from the 2008 study:

Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of orthopedic specialists use dietary supplements for reasons including general wellness (43 percent), joint health (29 percent), heart health (26 percent), bone health (25 percent) and flu/colds (22 percent).

94 percent of orthopedic specialists who take dietary supplements recommend them to their patients, as do 82 percent of those who don’t take supplements. The primary reasons: bone health (75 percent), joint health (73 percent) and musculoskeletal pain (53 percent).

Among cardiologists, 57 percent use dietary supplements, 86 percent of whom recommend supplements for their patients. Cardiologists are using dietary supplements for general wellness (32 percent), heart health (29 percent) and lower cholesterol (20 percent); for their patients, supplements are recommended for lower cholesterol (58 percent), heart health (55 percent) and maintaining healthy cholesterol (36 percent).

A full three-quarters of dermatologists are using dietary supplements for reasons such as overall wellness (42 percent), bone health (24 percent), skin/hair/nails (16 percent) and heart health (15 percent).

While 79 percent of dermatologists who take supplements recommend them to their patients, only 28 percent of those who don’t take supplements do so. Top reasons for recommending supplements: hair/skin/nails (81 percent) and overall health (30 percent).

Council for Responsible Nutrition (www.CRNusa.org).