Executive Summary: Conference on Dietary Supplement Use in the Elderly - Proceedings of the Conference Held January 14-15, 2003, Natcher Auditorium, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD

Several issues prompted the need for this conference. Among these were the reported high prevalence (50%) of use of supplements among individuals over 50 years of age, inadequate scientific evidence supporting the safety and benefits of use among these individuals, and a report issued by the General Accounting Office (GAO) in 2001. This GAO report entitled "Health Products for Seniors: 'Anti-Aging' Products Pose Potential for Physical and Economic Harm," arose from concerns among legislators that seniors were spending money from their limited incomes on products that were not only ineffective but also potentially harmful. The conference was organized around three sessions to address the issues highlighted above, which were usage of dietary supplements among the elderly, age-related changes and issues that affect the use of supplements, and the evidence base supporting the use of supplements in disease prevention and health maintenance. Each session was followed by a panel discussion. This Executive Summary is organized around the three major discussion topics. The summary does not explicitly follow the order of the conference presentations; rather it is intended to capture and examine the current research gaps in knowledge and identify future research opportunities. These research opportunities, as expressed by the conference speakers, panelists, and attendees are summarized at the end of this paper under five thematic areas: usage behaviors, methodology, pre-clinical studies and clinical studies, informational databases, and education and dissemination.