Malnutrition of children and food supplements: a bibliometric approach

Food supplements are used to eliminate nutritional deficiencies in children, increase immunity, minimize the risk of health problems, and support their growth and development. Both synthetic and natural food supplements can be used for malnourished children according to age, physiological needs, and current health status. For this reason, a comprehensive review of studies on food supplements used against malnutrition in children—from past to present—to determine trends, research gaps, and prominent themes in the literature is of great importance. In this study, research and review articles addressing malnutrition and food supplements in the context of children were examined using the bibliometric analysis method. The research data were obtained from the Web of Science database, and the keywords “malnutrition*” AND “supplement*” AND “child*” were entered in the relevant search section. A total of 2,972 articles including the concepts of malnutrition, supplement, and child were identified. The analysis of these articles was conducted according to year of publication, journals, keywords, countries, and frequently used concepts using the Bibliometrix R package. It was determined that the most publications were from the USA (n=3743), United Kingdom (n=1081), India (n=1054), Canada (n=507), and Australia (n=498), and that these countries produced the most articles between 2024 and 2025. Studies on the use of food supplements, especially in children, will raise awareness among parents who prefer to use food supplements and thus contribute to the healthy growth, development, and adequate nutrition of children.