Factors affecting the level of food supplement use and basic nutritional knowledge of patients applied to aydin Adnan Menderes University Educational Family Health Center

Introduction: Although it is known that it is very easy to reach all kinds of information in our age, some of this information can be confusing. Especially with the contribution of the media and social media, it is seen that attention is drawn to healthy nutrition and the interest in food supplements has increased. Healthy food consumption plays an important role in the prevention of chronic diseases that may be related to nutrition. From this point of view, in our study, we aimed to determine the use of food supplements, nutritional knowledge level and to reveal related factors, especially COVID, in patients who applied to Adnan Menderes University Education Family Health Center No. 25. Materials and Methods: It was aimed to reach all non-pregnant patients aged 18 and over who applied to the Education Family Health Center during the study period (six months). A data collection form consisting of sociodemographic and clinical characteristics and questions about the use of food supplements and the Nutrition Knowledge Level Scale for Adults were interviewed face-to-face with 309 people who applied to the Education Family Health Center between May 1, 2022 and October 30, 2022 and agreed to participate in the study. (YETBİD) was used to evaluate the level of nutrition knowledge. The obtained data were entered into the SPSS 22.0 database and statistical evaluations were made. In addition to descriptive statistics, Student's t test and ANOVA test from parametric tests, Mann Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis test from nonparametric tests were used for comparisons between groups. Pearson and Sperman Correlation Analysis was used to determine the relationship between numerical variables. In addition, regression analysis was applied to exclude confounders. The ethics committee permissions required for the study were obtained from the Ethics Committee of Aydın Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Medicine Non-Invasive Clinical Research. Results: The mean age of the participants in our study was 42.96±16.62 years, and 167 (54%) of the participants were women. Those who used food supplements in the last 1 year constituted 60.5% (n=187) of the participants. The most used food supplements; Vitamin D (38.5% n=119), Vitamin C (26.5% n=82), Vitamin B12 (23.3% n=72), Iron (22.3% n=69) and Multivitamin (% 18.8 n=58). Basic nutrition and nutritional health knowledge of the participants was at a moderate level, and their knowledge of food preference was found at a good level. The basic nutrition and nutritional health knowledge of the participants who are health workers was at a good level, and their food preference was determined at a very good level. YETBİD Nutrition and Nutritional Health Information It was 4,284 times higher in people who had COVID-19, 3,495 times in non-smokers compared to smokers, 6.64 times higher in healthcare workers than in non-health workers, and 2,414 times higher in those who added sugar to drinks less than 3 times compared to those who had 3 or more. Conclusion: YETBİD Nutrition and Nutritional Health Information was at a higher level in those who had Covid, non-smokers, healthcare workers, and those who added less sugar to beverages. It is important to inform the group with a lower level of knowledge about healthy nutrition and to raise awareness on this issue. Keywords: COVID-19, Food supplement, Healthcare Professionals, Nutrition Information.