Attitudes and approaches of nutrition and dietetic students at different education levels to dietary supplements

The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in the opinions and attitudes of Nutrition and Dietetics students towards nutritional supplement products with the increase in their nutrition education levels. The study was conducted with the 118 students studying at Yeditepe University at the Nutrition and Dietetic department, and 60 of them are undergraduate first-year students, 37 of them last year students, and 21 of them master students. The data were collected face to face and online voluntarily with the data collection form prepared by us. Statistical evaluation of the data was made with SPSS 25.0 Windows version. The differences between the students' views and nutrition education levels were evaluated using the chi-square test. As a result of the study, it was determined that there were statistically significant differences between the students' views on dietary supplements and their nutrition education levels (p<0.05). The higher the nutrition education level, the higher the awareness of dietary supplements. However, the consumption and recommendation rates of these products are also quite high. As a result, it is important for public health to expand the curriculum on the rational use of dietary supplements and primarily to promote adequate and balanced nutrition.