Transmasculine people reported a higher use of dietary supplements (65%) compared to the total population (22.5%), and 90% of transmasculine participants reported using supplements at some point in their life.
This is according to a study – “Dietary Supplement Use in Transmasculine People: Results of an Online Survey of Volunteer Adults” by Eli Ozana Kalman-Rome, Kerri LaCharite, Lilian de Jonge, and Taylor C. Wallace – that was published in the Journal of Dietary Supplements.
For this study, transmasculine volunteers completed an online survey detailing dietary supplement use, motivations, and demographic information. General population data was taken from the 20217-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in the US.
Transmasculine people reported using nutritional supplements in unique ways as compared to the general population; differences observed included the numbers of supplements used on average, participants’ reasons for taking supplements, and the variety of supplements taken.
Top reported dietary supplements used by transmasculine people included multivitamins (52%), melatonin (52%), vitamin D (46%), vitamin C (35%), fish oil (33%), B-vitamins or B-complex (31%), iron (29%), and green tea (29%).
Participants reported the top reasons for dietary supplements included “improving overall health” (60.4%) and “maintaining health” (54.2%).
“It is important to understand the motivations and types of products being used by transmasculine people, as an increased risk of adverse events, due to use of exogenous testosterone, medications, and other factors, may be present,” said de Jonge.
