by Claudia Boyd-Barrett posted in Parenting

About a third of kids and teens are regularly swallowing dietary supplements, even though they probably don't need them, according to a new report.
Researchers studied data on more than 4,000 children and adolescents who took part in a national health survey between 2003 and 2014. Older teens and the younger children's parents answered questions about the participants' use of dietary supplements, such as vitamins, minerals and herbs.
Just over 33 percent of kids and teens took some kind of supplement, according to the findings published in JAMA Pediatrics. The most common were multivitamins, especially among children under 5. Vitamin C, Omega-3 fatty acids, and the sleep-aid melatonin were also popular, though much less common than multivitamins. In fact, use of non-vitamin supplements such as Omega-3s and melatonin nearly doubled during the study period. The research relied on kids and parents remembering their supplement use, so may not be completely accurate.

All this supplement taking isn't a good thing, lead author Dima Qato told the New York Times. He said there's no evidence healthy children benefit from supplements, and some products may even be risky. Dietary supplements are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), so there's no guarantee they contain what they say they do or are even safe. (Nevertheless, there are some testing organizations that can help you tell if the supplements and vitamins you're...