Analysis of the 2012 National Health Interview Survey by the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC’s) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) found that 17.9% of U.S. adults used non-vitamin, non-mineral dietary supplements, surpassing the use of any other approach to complementary health. In fact, the use of non-vitamin, non-mineral dietary supplements was more than twice that of all other complementary health approaches, including chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation, yoga, massage, meditation and special diets. (See Figure 1.)

The report also observed that the use complementary approaches varied greatly by geographic region. Non-vitamin, non-mineral dietary supplements, such as herbs and other non-vitamin dietary supplements in pills, capsules, tablets, or liquids (excluding minerals, homeopathic treatments and herbal or green teas) were most commonly used in the Mountain (28.7%), Pacific (23.3%) and West North Central (23.1%) regions of the U.S. The Middle Atlantic (13.6%), West South Central (13.6%) and South Atlantic (13.1%) regions had the lowest percentage of adults using non-vitamin, non-mineral dietary supplements, while use in the East South Central (15.8%) and East North Central (19.5%) regions did not differ much from the percentage for the nation as a whole.(See Figure 2.)
 

The next most popular complementary health practices included chiropractic and osteopathic manipulation (8.5%), yoga (8.4%) and massage (6.8%). In addition, the use of practitioner-based chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation was nearly twice as high in the West North Central region as in the U.S. on a whole. The report also found that use of yoga with deep breathing or meditation was approximately 40% higher in the Pacific and Mountain regions than in the U.S. overall.
 
According to the CDC, previous research demonstrated that regional differences exist in the use of complementary health approaches among adults in the U.S., concluding that this report displays those regional differences across a wide range of complementary health approaches. Environmental and cultural factors unique to towns, regions and economic factors have long been linked to differences in health behaviors and general health measures in the U.S. population. Similar environmental and cultural factors may also be related to the regional differences of complementary health approach uses that are presented in this report.
 
For an in-depth analysis of the report, visit: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db146.htm.