The Status of Childrens’ (Age 3—6) Probiotic Supplement Usage and Parental Perception of Supplementation Behavior in Chongqing, China

Numerous studies support a globally growing trend of probiotic supplement consumption. Parents may have the greatest impact on their childrens' growth. This study aims to investigate the status of Chinese childrens' (age 3—6) probiotic supplement usage, parental perception on the benefits, and risks of the supplementation behavior and childrens' adherence to the Chinese dietary guidelines. A web-based survey was conducted using the multistage stratified cluster sampling method in nine districts of Chongqing, China between June and October 2023. The parental perception scores were calculated to indicate the degree of positive perception of the usage. A total of 727 parents were found to be eligible for data analysis. Of the 727 parents, 48.75% of the them belonged to the user group and the most important reasons of usage included 'treatment of gastrointestinal disorders' (49.05%), 'appetite regulation' (48.78%), 'promotion of daily health status' (39.30%), and 'immunity boost' (36.04%). The reasons for non-usage were 'lack of necessity' (36.95%), 'lack of knowledge' (36.74%), and 'failure to recognize as food' (13.78%). Children who used probiotics exhibited better dietary behaviors than the other group (3.82 vs 3.47, p0.001). Parents of users showed a more positive attitude toward probiotic supplementation than parents of non-users (3.59 vs 3.43, p0.001). Regression analysis suggest the children's probiotic supplements usage (β=0.157, p=0.002), parents' experience of nutrition education (β=0.132, p=0.020), and child's ages of 5 to 6 years (β=0.152, p=0.026) tend to positively predict parents' positive perceptions of probiotic supplements, after adjusting for significant confounding variables. The findings in the study highlight the high prevalence of probiotic supplement usage among children aged 3—6 in Chongqing, China, and emphasizes the need for further investigation on the associations between probiotic supplementation, nutrient intake, and dietary behaviors of young children in a longitudinal manner and tailored nutrition education for parents.