Vitamin and mineral dietary supplements for children available on the Serbian market

Vitamin and mineral supplements make up a large proportion of dietary supplements market both, for adults and children. Aims: The aims of this abstract were to identify vitamin and/or mineral supplements inteded for use in children available on the Serbian market, to assess their quantitive and qualitative composition, as well as health claims from their labels. Methods: Vitamin and/or mineral supplements for children on the Serbian market were identified using the freely available database of dietary products registered in Serbia (last update – June 2018, Ministry of Health). Those supplements registered after June of 2018 were added to the list after a search of online pharmacies from Serbia. The intention for those supplements to be used in children was assessed by the words „baby“, „junior“, „(for) kids“ and similar terms on their labels. Data on the intended use, composition, daily doses and health claims were taken from dietary supplements labels. The compliance of the identified supplements composition and health claims with the national regulation were assessed. Results: In total, 30 different vitamin and/or mineral dietary supplements intended for use in the pediatric population were identified on the Serbian market. Most of them (80%) were combinations of different vitamins and minerals in dosage forms appropriate for use in children (chewable tablets, powders, lollipops, efferves cents – 63%, liquid forms – 37%). Vitamins C, D, A, B6 and B12, zinc, iron and iodine were the most commonly present vitamins/
minerals in the analyzed supplements.Chemical sources of vitamins and minerals in childrens’ supplements were compliant with the national legislation. Daily doses of vitamins/minerals according to the manufacturers’ recommendations did not differ between age groups from 3 to 12+ years, except for vitamin E, iron and calcium. Daily doses of vitamin D and iodine in the analyzed supplements were equivalent to the maximum amounts allowed in dietary supplements for adults (400 IJ and 150 μg, respectively). Health claims used on the labels were in compliance with the national regulation except in the casesof vitamin C, B12 and K for which a total of 4 unapproved health claims were made. Conclusions: Many pediatric supplements containing vitamins and/or minerals are available on the Serbian market and most of them are compliant with the available requirements of the national regulations. However, the lack of proper regulation pertaining to dietary supplements for children, specifically, makes it hard to assess the appropriateness of their use in different pediatric age groups.