Metrics details. Dietary supplements DS are often used by patients to enhance their health and well-being. General practitioners GPs are commonly the first point of contact for patients who enquire about DS. A cross-sectional purposeful recruitment online survey of general practitioners GPs in Germany was conducted between May and August However, the majority of respondents were in favor of more standardized guidelines Physicians who self-administered DS were statistically significantly more likely to perceive them as safe to use, with an OR of 4.
Self-administration [OR 4. The majority of physicians recognized the importance of DS in routine care but wished for improved regulation and more standardized guidelines regarding their use.
The findings could be used to develop targeted educational interventions and improve handling of DS in daily general practice. General practitioners GP in our study see dietary supplements DS as an important matter in their daily practice. While many GPs perceive DS to be safe for their patients, most of them wish for stricter regulations and guidelines on handling their use by patients. Practically all GPs expressed a need for enhanced education on DS.
Peer Review reports. The global dietary supplements DS market has been growing steadily in the past decades and Germany is no exception to this trend. With sales reaching nearly 3 billion euros in [ 1 ], a substantial number of adults are regularly turning to vitamins and minerals as DS to support their health and wellbeing [ 2 ]. With the growing interest in DS, there has been an increasing amount of research assessing their potential effects and side-effects [ 3 ].
While some studies have shown positive effects on patient outcomes, others suggest that the use of DS should not be taken lightly or without guidance by physicians [ 4 ]. A wide range of side-effects and hepatotoxic properties have been associated with certain DS [ 3 ], such as high doses of vitamins E and A, which may contribute to the promotion of bronchial carcinomas [ 5 ].
