| Abstract [eng] |
Food Supplements: to Complement the Diet or to Replace the Medicines A master thesis written by Vaiva Trakienė and Aldona Židanavičienė “Food Supplements to complement the Diet or to replace the Medicines.” The master thesis was supervised by Prof. Jolanta Gulbinovič. Vilnius University, Faculty of Medicine. Vilnius. In 2016-2017. Purpose: To research how people in Vilnius (aged from eighteen up to sixty-nine years old) react to food supplements and how often do they use them. Objectives: 1. To analyse the usage of food supplements in Vilnius by people aged from eighteen up to sixty-nine years old. 2. To find out how people react to food supplements and what expectations do they have of them. 3. To establish the criterion for choosing food supplements. Participants of the research: People from Vilnius, aged from eighteen up to sixty-nine years old. Research methods: A questionnaire was used to collect the information. In 2017 January - February a questionnaire was conducted between “Euro” and “Benu” pharmacy clients. The respondents answered anonymous questionnaires which included twenty-one questions. Overall 518 questionnaires were completed. Results: Food supplements are used daily by twenty-five percent of women and forty percent of men. Thirty-nine percent of people that use them are mostly fifty years old or older. Fourteen percent of people that are aged up to thirty years old never used food supplements. Forty-six percent of respondents stated that food supplements should be used by everybody. The respondents perceive that food supplements (one-componential or composite) are beneficial and therefore, they would most likely use them. Forty-nine percent of people, which participated in the questionnaire, think that food supplements are used to strengthen the immune system and forty-eight percent think that they are used to complement the diet. Respondents, to be exact seventy-two percent of them, expect that while using food supplements our body receives benefits such as various missing minerals and nutrients. Ninety-six percent of the respondents, who were older than fifty years old, believe that food supplements provide health benefits. Many people, who partook in the questionnaire, choose food supplements according to their health, others choose them according to the prescription/recommendation which they have received from doctors: I choose food supplements according to my health (2.61 points) and I choose food supplements which were prescribed/recommended by a doctor (2.42 points). |
