Skip to main content
. 2014 May 2;14:143. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-14-143

Table 3.

Summary data on prevalence of dietary supplement use by military personnel by gender and service

Dietary supplement
 Group
 Studies (reference number)
 Individual study prevalence, mean (95% CI)
 Total sample size (n)
 Summary prevalence estimate (95% CI) (%)
 Homogeneity of summary prevalence estimate
      (%)     (Q Statistic p-value)
Any
 Army Men
 Brasfield [6]
 59 (56–63)
 4,871
 55(53–56)
 0.77
Bray et al. [19]
 55 (53–57)
Lieberman [26]
 55 (50–60)
Lieberman et al. [8]
 53 (50–56)
Navy Men
 Bray et al. [19]
 60 (58–62)
 3,341
  
  
AF Men
 Bray et al. [19]
 60 (58–62)
 3,193
  
  
Marine Men
 Bray et al. [19]
 61 (59–63)
 2,767
  
  
Army Women
 Brasfield [6]
 70 (62–78)
 1,844
 65(60–70)
 0.14
Bray et al. [19]
 66 (63–69)
Lieberman [26]
 70 (56–84)
Lieberman et al. [8]
 57 (49–66)
Navy Women
 Bray et al. [19]
 71 (68–74)
 1,286
  
  
AF Women
 Bray et al. [19]
 76 (74–78)
 1.331
  
  
Marine Women
 Bray et al. [19]
 71 (67–75)
 589
  
  
Army Officers in Training, Women
 Klicka et al. [15]
 35 (25–45)
 136
 36(28–44)
 0.72
Arsenault et al. [35]
 38 (25–51)
Navy SEALs
 Schneider et al. [21]
 78 (70–87)
 1,479
 76(65–85)
 <0.01
Army SF
 Bovill et al. [12]
 90 (85–95)
Army Rangers
 Deuster et al. [5]
 82 (70–94)
Army Rangers
 Johnson et al. [38]
 56 (50–62)
Army Rangers
 Lieberman [27]
 81 (78–84)
Army SF
 Lieberman [28]
 65 (57–73)
Army SF
 Lieberman et al. [8]
 77 (57–97)
Multivitamin
 Army Men
 Warber et al. [16]
 24 (22–26)
 7,418
 32(26–39)
 <0.01
Brasfield [6]
 33 (30–36)
Bray et al. [19]
 38 (36–40)
Lieberman [26]
 30 (26–34)
Lieberman [8]
 37 (34–40)
Navy Men
 Bray et al. [19]
 46 (45–48)
 3,341
  
  
AF Men
 Bray et al. [19]
 47 (45–49)
 3,193
  
  
Marine Men
 Bray et al. [19]
 41 (39–43)
 2,767
  
  
Army Women
 Warber et al. [16]
 35 (31–39)
 1,610
 40(32–48)
 <0.01
Brasfield [6]
 40 (31–49)
Bray et al. [19]
 50 (47–53)
Lieberman [26]
 28 (14–42)
Lieberman et al. 2010 [8]
 41 (33–49)
Navy Women
 Bray et al. [19]
 55 (52–58)
 1,286
  
  
AF Women
 Bray et al. [19]
 63 (60–66)
 1,331
  
  
Marine Women
 Bray et al. [19]
 53 (49–57)
 589
  
  
Navy SEALS
 Schneider et al. [21]
 26 (17–35)
 1,147
 37(25–52)
 <0.01
Army SF
 Bovill et al. [12]
 55 (46–64)
Army Rangers
 Lieberman [27]
 23 (20–26)
Army SF
 Lieberman [28]
 32 (25–39)
Lieberman et al. [8]
 64 (41–87)
Any vitamin or mineral
 Army Men
 Carlson et al. [14]
 7 (1–13)
 3,720
 18(13–26)
 <0.01
Bray et al. [19]
 24 (22–26)
Lieberman et al. [8]
 17 (15–20)
Navy Men
 Bray et al. [19]
 27 (25–29)
 3,341
  
  
AF Men
 Bray et al. [19]
 25 (24–27)
 3,193
  
  
Marine Men
 Bray et al. [19]
 24 (22–26)
 2,767
  
  
Army Women
 Bray et al. [19]
 34 (31–37)
 952
 29(19–41)
 0.01
Lieberman et al. [8]
 23 (16–30)
Navy Women
 Bray et al. [19]
 36 (33–39)
 1,286
  
  
AF Women
 Bray et al. [19]
 40 (37–43)
 1,331
  
  
Marine Women
 Bray et al. [19]
 33 (29–37)
 589
  
  
Vitamin C
 Army Men
 Brasfield [6]
 17 (14–20)
 1,609
 15(12–20)
 0.07
Lieberman et al. [26]
 13 (10–16)
Army Women
 Brasfield [6]
 15 (9–21)
 255
 15(10–21)
 0.19
Lieberman et al. 2008 [26]
 13 (3–23)
Army SF
 Bovill 2003 [12]
 20 (13–27)
 271
 15(8–26)
 0.04
Lieberman [28]
 11 (6–16)
Vitamin E
 Army Men
 Brasfield [6]
 10 (8–12)
 514
 8(5–13)
 0.12
Lieberman [26]
 6 (4–8)
Army Women
 Brasfield [6]
 7 (3–12)
 164
 7(4–12)
 0.95
Lieberman [26]
 8 (1–16)
Army SF
 Bovill et al. [12]
 12 (6–18)
 271
 9(6–15)
 0.21
Lieberman [28]
 7 (3–11)
Calcium
 Army Men
 Brasfield [6]
 12 (10–14)
 1,194
 9(4–17)
 <0.01
Lieberman [26]
 6 (4–8)
Army Women
 Brasfield [6]
 14 (8–20)
 164
 14(10–20)
 0.84
Lieberman[26]
 15 (4–26)
Iron
 Army Women
 Brasfield [6]
 12 (6–18)
 164
 12(8–18)
 0.72
Lieberman [26]
 10 (1–19)
Protein
 Army SF
 Bovill et al. [12]
 24 (16–32)
 271
 20(13–30)
 0.08
Lieberman [28]
 16 (10–22)
Protein or amino acid
 Navy SEALs
 Schneider et al. [21]
 18 (15–21)
 876
 21(11–36)
 <0.01
Army Rangers
 Lieberman [27]
 12 (5–19)
Army SF
 Lieberman et al. [8]
 47 (23–71)
Creatine
 Army Men
 Brasfield [6]
 16 (13–18)
 1,194
 9(3–27)
 <0.01
Lieberman [26]
 5 (3–7)
Navy SEALs
 Schneider et al. [21]
 32 (22–42)
 1,169
 20(15–25)
 0.02
Army SF
 Bovill et al. [12]
 18 (11–25)
Army Rangers
 Deuster et al.[5]
 13 (2–24)
Army Rangers
 Lieberman [27]
 19 (16–22)
Army SF
 Lieberman [28]
 16 (10–22)
Sport drinks
 Army Men
 Lieberman [26]
 20 (16–24)
 1,303
 22(19–25)
 0.22
Lieberman et al. [8]
 23 (20–26)
Army Women
 Lieberman [26]
 28 (14–42)
 171
 25(19–32)
 0.24
Lieberman et al. [8]
 24 (17–31)
Navy SEALs
 Schneider et al. [21]
 19 (11–27)
 1,147
 39(26–55)
 <0.01
Army SF
 Bovill et al. [12]
 71 (63–79)
Army Rangers
 Lieberman [27]
 41 (38–44)
Army SF
 Lieberman [28]
 36 (28–44)
Army SF
 Lieberman et al. [8]
 32 (10–54)
Sport bars Army Men
 Warber et al. [16]
 8 (7–9)
 3,890
 7(5–9)
 0.03
Lieberman [26]
 5 (3–7)
Lieberman et al. [8]
 6 (4–8)
Army Women
 Warber et al. [16]
 3 (2–5)
 625
 3(2–5)
 0.65
Lieberman et al. [8]
 4 (1–7)
Navy SEALs
 Schneider et al. [21]
 40 (30–50)
 1,147 19(6–46) <0.01
Army SF
 Bovill et al. [12]
 52 (43–61)
Army Rangers
 Lieberman [27]
 6 (4–8)
Army SF
 Lieberman [28]
 15 (9–21)
Army SF Lieberman et al. [8] 7 (1–14)

Abbreviations: AF = Air Force; SEAL = Sea, Air, Land (US Navy special operations personnel); SF = Special Forces; CI = confidence interval.