Abstract
Objectives The purpose of this study is to get the basic information about the actual amount of consumption of the Health supplements and Herbal Medicines. Also, we investigated the consumption differences according to the regions. Methods 500 questionnaires were handed out to parents of elementary students in O O, Gyeonggi-do province, and 331 questionnaires were collected and evaluated for this study. Results Among the 331 students, 58.4% were female, and 41.6% were male. The percentages of the subjects consuming health supplements and herbal medicines were 67.4% and 59.2% respectively. The maximum period of taking the health supplements were from 1 month to 6 month (49.5%), and the maximum period of taking the herbal medicine was within one month (55.6%). The total cost of the health supplements was less than 100,000won (43.7%), which was the most common while herbal medicine cost was between 100,000won and 200,000won (40.6%). The most common age of consuming the health supplements and herbal medicine for the first time was six to ten years old (47.3%); the case of herbal medicine was one to six years old (64.0%). Most of people purchased health supplements from pharmacy (48.0%), and purchased the herbal medicine from the oriental medical clinic (61.8%). Among those people who purchased health supplements, they bought nutritional supplements (82.8%), red ginseng or ginseng products (43.4%), plum extract products (10.9%), and chlorella products (6.8%). The reason for consuming health supplements was to be healthier even though there is no ongoing illness (47.1%), which was the most common reason. The reason for consuming herbal medicine was to cure weakness (39.3%). For the responses about effectiveness after taking medications, people thought herbal medicine seemed to be more effective compare to health supplements (72.3%, 63% respectively). Only 1.4% of the subjects consuming the health supplements showed adverse effects while herbal medicine showed 4.6%. The most common adverse effects were 'general reaction' caused by the health supplements and dermatologic problems caused by the herbal medications. Conclusions Among 331 subjects, the percentage of consuming the health supplements (67.4%) was higher than the Herbal Medicine (59.2%). The total consuming cost of the herbal medications was higher than general health supplements. Also, the maximum period of consuming the health supplements was longer than herbal medications. Therefore, it is shown that herbal medications have no price competitiveness compare to health supplements. The age of using the herbal medicine for the first time was younger than the health supplements. Even though many people can purchase both health supplements and herbal medication from pharmacies and local oriental medical clinic, it is also shown that some people thought that the health supplements should be purchased from oriental medical hospital (13.9%). The most commonly taken forms of the health supplement was nutrition-supplying products, and the second common health supplements were ginseng and red ginseng. The health supplements were commonly consumed for preventing illness and for maintaining healthy life rather than for cure diseases. On the other hand, the herbal medicine was more commonly consumed to be taller or to treat diseases. More than half of the entire people replied as 'satisfied' for their purchase. Some adverse effects and general reaction were common with the subjects consuming health supplements while dermatological adverse reaction was common with the subjects consuming herbal medications.
