Abstract
There are many examples of safe and efficacious supplement use in pediatric care, mostly the use of vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrate, and fat in specific clinical and diagnostic settings. The available scientific literature does not support the use of herbal and botanical compounds for common acute or chronic pediatric conditions. In health promotion and disease prevention, with few exceptions, there are no data to evaluate the safety and efficacy of supplements in preventing childhood disease. There is no literature to support supplement use in childhood to prevent adult disease, and this would require very long observation periods to establish efficacy.