Health Literacy and Dietary Supplement Consumption among  Northeasterners of Thailand

Authors

Watcharasa Pitug 1, Wongsa Laohasiriwong2 , Nopparat Senahad1 , Keo Panha Soeung1

dietary supplement consumption, health literacy, Northeast of Thailand

Background: Dietary supplement consumption have been widely used worldwide including Thailand

aiming at improving or maintaining health. This research aimed to describe the patterns and identify the

association between health literacy and dietary supplement consumption in the Northeast of Thailand.

Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,200 persons, aged 18 or older, who were

multistage random sampling from four provinces of the Northeast of Thailand to response to a structured

questionnaire interview. The multiple logistic regression was performed to identify the influence of health

literacy on dietary supplement consumption among people in the Northeast of Thailand when controlling

the covariates.

Result: Among the total of 1,200 participants, 76.10% (95%CI: 73.42-78.78) were currently consuming

dietary supplement. Factors that were associated with dietary supplement consumption were; had sufficient

to excellent level of health literacy on appraising health information (adj.OR= 1.97; 95%CI: 1.30-2.99), had

sufficient to excellent level of health literacy on accessing to health information (adj.OR= 1.91; 95%CI:

1.28-2.86), had chronic disease (adj.OR= 2.45; 95%CI: 1.74-3.44), had low level of knowledge on dietary

supplement (adj.OR= 2.13; 95%CI: 1.38 -3.27), were males (adj. OR= 2.11; 95%CI: 1.65 -2.69), dissatisfied

with self-body image (adj.OR= 1.50; 95%CI: 1.13 -1.98), married (adj.OR= 1.49; 95%CI: 1.16 -1.92), had

insomnia (adj.OR = 1.48; 95%CI: 1.15 -1.98), when controlling other covariates including age, income,

education, occupation, chronic health, health expenditure and physical activities.

Conclusion: Most of the population in the Northeast of Thailand consumed dietary supplement. Health

literacy in accessing and appraising health information as well as health status were associated with dietary

consumption. Enhancing the health literacy and knowledge on dietary supplement were essential.

Watcharasa Pitug 1, Wongsa Laohasiriwong2 , Nopparat Senahad1 , Keo Panha Soeung1

1 Faculty of Public Health, Khon Kaen University, Thailand, 2 Associate Professor, Dr, Faculty of Public Health, Khon Kaen University, Thailand