Table 4.
Belief about the use of the herbal products and/or food supplements as protective measure.
| Variable | Frequency (%) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Do you use herbal products or supplements during the period of the pandemic in order to protect you from the disease? (n = 5,245) | ||||
| Yes | 783 (14.9) | |||
| No | 4,084 (77.9) | |||
| I used it for a while and then stopped it | 378 (7.2) | |||
| If yes, who suggested you take a nutritional/herbal supplement? (n = 944) | ||||
| Dietician/physician/pharmacist/nurse/health practitioner | 223 (23.6) | |||
| Social media and other websites | 372 (39.4) | |||
| Recommendation from friend or relative | 349 (37.0) | |||
| If yes, where did you get it? | ||||
| Herbal product shop | 293 (31.0) | |||
| Pharmacy | 226 (23.9) | |||
| Home | 354 (37.5) | |||
| Internet | 71 (0.07) | |||
| What type of dietary supplement did you use before/use now during the pandemic? (You can choose more than one answer) (n = 552) | ||||
| Vitamin C | 521 (94.4) | |||
| Royal Jelly | 31 (5.6) | |||
| Beliefs about the use of the herbal products and/or food supplements as protective measure | ||||
| Yes | No | Maybe | I don’t know | |
| Do you think that drinking turmeric tea helps increase immunity and reduce the chance of developing COVID-19? | 13.3% | 19.6% | 25.1% | 42.0% |
| Do you think ginger tea helps to increase the immunity and reduce the chance of developing COVID-19? | 19.5% | 17.5% | 33.0% | 30.0% |
| Do you think that eating garlic helps to increase the immunity and reduce the chance of developing COVID-19? | 34.4% | 14.8% | 32.6% | 18.3% |
| Do you think that eating onions (or onion peel) helps to increase the immunity and reduce the chance of developing COVID-19? | 20.6% | 20.1% | 28.8% | 30.5% |
| Do you think that eating fish oil known as omega-3 helps to increase the immunity and reduce the chance of developing COVID-19? | 9.5% | 19.8% | 25.6% | 45.1% |
| Do you think that taking ginseng extract tablets help to increase the immunity and protect us from corona infection? | 3.4% | 20.9% | 16.5% | 59.2% |
| Do you think that consumption of vitamin C found in citrus has a role in treating or reducing the chances of developing COVID-19? | 29.3% | 13.7% | 33.4% | 23.5% |
| Do you think that vinegar plays a role in treating or protecting against the COVID-19? | 5.9% | 29.3% | 18.7% | 46.1% |
| Do you think salted water plays a role in treating or protecting against the COVID-19? | 10.0% | 33.4% | 21.4% | 35.2% |
| Do you think that applying sesame oil on the body protect from COVID-19? | 1.2% | 51.6% | 6.9% | 40.3% |
| Do you think that consuming of nutritional and herbal supplements prevents the spread of COVID-19 more than social distance? | 15.7% | 23.6% | 32.2% | 28.5% |
| Do you think that vitamins and herbal supplements treat/reduce the incidence of COVID-19? | 4.4% | 57.3% | 14.0% | 24.3% |