Dietary Supplements Intake During Covid-19 Outbreak In Turkey

Abstract

Medicinal herbs have been used since ancient times in the treatment of many diseases. With the sudden spread of
Covid-19 and the lack of treatment, many people resorted to using medicinal herbs and dietary supplements to
prevent or treat this disease, and this appeared in the increase in the volume of sales of these supplements. The
study reviews the opinions of people in Turkey including the extent to which they use dietary supplements, and
purpose of use (prevention or treatment). The study inquires about dietary supplements that are most used during
that period, and whether there is a relationship between the use of dietary supplements and the personal disposition
of the participants. A cross-sectional questionnaire was used to survey the opinions of the participants within the
city of Istanbul in Turkey and it was distributed to the participants through social media. The results were analyzed
using Microsoft Excel and SPSS. The results show a greater demand among non-Turks (45.8%) to use dietary
supplements for the prevention of Covid-19 compared to Turks (32.3%), whereas for the purpose of treatment of
the disease, non-Turks were (69.6%) and Turks (42.9%). The results also showed that women (52.0%) used
supplements for treatment more than men (45.1%). Holders of higher degrees and the elderly use it more than
others. These findings may lead to further investigation in the future about the effect of each dietary supplement
separately, taking into account certain factors such as health conditions that may be affected by the use of dietary
supplements.