Community Pharmacists' Knowledge of Antioxidant Vitamins

Abstract

Objective:

The current interest in antioxidant vitamins has led consumers to seek advice from community pharmacists. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate community pharmacists' knowledge of antioxidant vitamins.

Design:

An interviewer-based questionnaire was developed to represent the questions most frequently asked by consumers in community pharmacies about antioxidant vitamins.

Setting:

Pharmacies in the Tri-cities area (Albany, Schenectady, and Troy, NY) were identified from the Yellow Pages of the Albany, NY telephone directory, and each was visited by the interviewer (DMO).

Main Outcome Measures:

Questions were divided into the demographic data and practice setting of the participant; the antioxidant vitamins, knowledge of supplements and foods containing antioxidants, dosage recommendations, and toxicities; and therapeutic claims attributed to their use.

Results:

Of 75 pharmacists approached, 70 agreed to participate in the study. The number of questions per week received from customers regarding antioxidant vitamins was estimated to be between 0 and 25. All pharmacists had heard of the terms “free radical” and “antioxidant,” but few were able to provide an adequate definition of either term. The majority of pharmacists knew which vitamins are considered to be antioxidants, but were unfamiliar with appropriate dosage recommendations. In keeping with current literature recommendations, the use of antioxidant supplements was generally not advocated.

Conclusions:

In this study, pharmacists provided inadequate information regarding antioxidant vitamins. Because antioxidants are rarely indicated according to the current literature, pharmacists have a responsibility to base their recommendations to customers on substantiated data.