Presentation description

In the United States, diet quality is measured by the Healthy Eating Index (HEI), which is a score that allows researchers and nutrition experts to summarize and monitor dietary practices against the dietary recommendations set by the Dietary Guidelines for American's (DGA). American's consistently score below the ideal HEI score of 100 with an average HEI score of 58.3 between 2005-2016. In addition, dietary supplement use is common in the United States but is only recommended in limited circumstances by the DGA. Various studies have concluded that over 50% of American's reported taking at least one dietary supplement, with increases among older adults and in women. Dietary supplement use is also more prevalent in individuals that reported healthier diets. Additionally, previous studies have highlighted self-reported, current health status as an important predictor of mortality and reflects the impact that chronic, comorbid diseases have on health. Individuals with excellent or very good health status had a higher dietary supplement use than those who reported fair or poor health status. Self-reported health status, or how someone is generally feeling, likely influences diet and supplement use behaviors among U.S. adults, which is why it is important to consider when investigating these lifestyle factors.

The objective of our study is to describe the complex relationship of diet quality and supplement use by self-reported health status in U.S. adults (≥20 years old) who participated in the 2017-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) cycle. Diet quality is measured using the Healthy Eating Index score, based on 24-hour food recalls, and dietary supplement usage and current health status are self-reported during the mobile exam center appointments. Utilizing the extensive data collected by NHANES from 2017-2018 will allow us to draw conclusion on diet, supplement usage, and health status that are representative of the U.S. population.