Micronutrients are essential to sustain life and for optimal physiological function. Widespread global micronutrient deficiencies (MNDs) exist, with pregnant women and their children under 5 years at the highest risk. Iron, iodine, folate, vitamin A, and zinc deficiencies are the most widespread MNDs, and all these MNDs are common contributors to poor growth, intellectual impairments, perinatal complications, and increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Iron deficiency is the most common MND worldwide and leads to microcytic anemia, decreased capacity for work, as well as impaired immune and endocrine function. Iodine deficiency disorder is also widespread and results in goiter, mental retardation, or reduced cognitive function. Adequate zinc is necessary for optimal immune function, and deficiency is associated with an increased incidence of diarrhea and acute respiratory infections, major causes of death in those <5 years of age. Folic acid taken in early pregnancy can prevent neural tube defects. Folate is essential for DNA synthesis and repair, and deficiency results in macrocytic anemia. Vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of blindness worldwide and also impairs immune function and cell differentiation. Single MNDs rarely occur alone; often, multiple MNDs coexist. The long-term consequences of MNDs are not only seen at the individual level but also have deleterious impacts on the economic development and human capital at the country level. Perhaps of greatest concern is the cycle of MNDs that persists over generations and the intergenerational consequences of MNDs that we are only beginning to understand. Prevention of MNDs is critical and traditionally has been accomplished through supplementation, fortification, and food-based approaches including diversification. It is widely accepted that intervention in the first 1,000 days is critical to break the cycle of malnutrition; however, a coordinated, sustainable commitment to scaling up nutrition at the global level is still needed. Understanding the epidemiology of MNDs is critical to understand what intervention strategies will work best under different conditions.

Dietary supplement use has steadily increased over time since the 1970s; however, no current data exist for the U.S. population. Therefore, the purpo

Dietary supplement use among adults has increased over the past 30 years in the United States,^1,2 and currently about half of adults report using 1 or more dietary supplements.^3,4 Many characteristics of people who choose supplements are known: users tend to be older,^2,3,5 have a lower body mass index (BMI)^5,6 (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared), are more physically active,^5,7 are less likely to smoke,^7,8 and have higher educational attainment and socioeconomic status compared with nonusers.^6,9 However, the actual motivations for use, that is, the reasons that people take dietary supplements remain unclear. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) began querying motivations for use of dietary supplements for the first time in 2007. The purpose of this analysis was to examine motivations for use of dietary supplements by adults as well as to characterize the types of products that were used and the most common motivations for using them in the 2007-2010 NHANES.

The Biomarkers of Nutrition for Development (BOND) project is designed to provide evidence-based advice to anyone with an interest in the role of nutr

Our objective in this study was to estimate calcium intakes from food, water, dietary supplements, and antacids for U.S. citizens aged ≥1 y using NHA