New and Re-new: Expanding Prevention Science within Child and Adolescent Health

Excerpt

In this issue of the Journal of Primary Prevention, we address some emerging issues in child and adolescent health as well as explore established concepts in new contexts. The first two articles highlight the fast changing field of child and adolescent health and the need for researchers to keep pace with this phase of life and the changing social, cultural, and environmental landscape. For example, the dietary supplement industry has had tremendous growth in the last decade (Nutrition Business Journal, 2011), but few have examined how supplements impact youth. Evans and colleagues studied real-world use of dietary supplements that is not captured in clinical trial studies. They report that 5.5% of children and adolescents in the US used herbal supplements, and 4.4% used vitamin supplements in the past 30 days to improve sports performance. While these percentages are relatively small, it is estimated that over a million youth used supplements to enhance sports performance. This article emphasizes the need for further research, given the lack of evidence of the efficacy and safety of performance-enhancing supplements for youth. …