Table 1.
Distribution of number and type of supplements consumed across five time points in a population-based prospective cohort of women with a viable singleton pregnancy (n 2146), Melbourne, Australia, July 2011–July 2012
| 3MP (n 2146) | PPA (n 2146) | T1 (n 2146) | T2 (n 1715) | T3 (n 1571) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | n | ||||||
| Taking a supplement | 64 | 1379 | 64 | 1382 | 91 | 1952 | 88 | 1505 | 91 | 1434 | |||||
| Nil | 36 | 767 | 36 | 764 | 9 | 194 | 12 | 210 | 9 | 136 | |||||
| One | 37 | 787 | 37 | 791 | 45 | 962 | 33 | 567 | 32 | 497 | |||||
| Two | 18 | 385 | 20 | 428 | 32 | 695 | 35 | 608 | 34 | 539 | |||||
| Three or more | 10 | 207 | 8 | 163 | 14 | 295 | 19 | 330 | 25 | 398 | |||||
| Supplement types* | SU | TS | n | SU | TS | n | SU | TS | n | SU | TS | n | SU | TS | n |
| General multivitamin | 35 | 22 | 477 | 34 | 22 | 466 | 34 | 31 | 657 | 31 | 27 | 461 | 39 | 35 | 557 |
| Pregnancy/conception multivitamin | 39 | 25 | 533 | 40 | 26 | 556 | 52 | 47 | 1014 | 58 | 51 | 873 | 50 | 46 | 717 |
| B vitamin multivitamin | 1·5 | 1 | 22 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 17 | <1 | 1 | 10 | <1 | <1 | 7 |
| Folate and Iodine | 2·5 | 2 | 36 | 3 | 2 | 39 | 2 | 2 | 39 | 1·5 | 1 | 23 | 1 | 1 | 14 |
| Folate | 24 | 15 | 329 | 21 | 14 | 291 | 17 | 15 | 326 | 8 | 7 | 124 | 5 | 4 | 68 |
| Zinc | 1 | 1 | 18 | 1 | 1 | 15 | <1 | <1 | 9 | <1 | 1 | 10 | <1 | 1 | 9 |
| Iron | 5 | 3 | 72 | 5 | 3 | 71 | 5 | 4 | 92 | 7 | 6 | 105 | 14 | 13 | 206 |
| Vitamin B12 | <1 | <1 | 5 | <1 | <1 | 7 | <1 | <1 | 8 | <1 | <1 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 14 |
| Vitamin D | 18·5 | 12 | 254 | 21 | 14 | 295 | 35 | 32 | 688 | 52 | 45 | 777 | 53 | 48 | 761 |
| Fish/cod liver oils | 13 | 9 | 186 | 12 | 8 | 171 | 7 | 6 | 135 | 8 | 7 | 119 | 7 | 7 | 107 |
| Calcium | 1 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 1·5 | 1 | 28 | 2 | 1 | 25 | 2 | 2 | 26 |
| Vitamin D and calcium | 1 | 1 | 18 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 2 | 2 | 33 | 3 | 3 | 45 | 4 | 3 | 54 |
| Herbal | 5 | 3 | 65 | 3 | 2 | 44 | 1·5 | 1 | 28 | 1·5 | 1 | 22 | 4 | 3 | 53 |
| Other | 8 | 5 | 108 | 7 | 5 | 102 | 6 | 5 | 118 | 8 | 7 | 122 | 8 | 7 | 117 |
| Any folic acid preparation† | 62 | 40 | 853 | 62 | 40 | 858 | 68 | 62 | 1320 | 66 | 58 | 991 | 54 | 50 | 780 |
3MP, three months prior to conception; PPA, after conception but prior to pregnancy awareness; T1, from awareness to gestational week 13; T2, second trimester; T3, third trimester; SU, proportion of supplement users (%), TS, proportion of total sample (%).
*
Categories are not mutually exclusive, as some women are consuming two or more supplement types.
†
Includes single or combined use of a pregnancy multivitamin, folic acid-specific supplement and folic acid/iodine supplement.