Consumers stay true
Good news for the industry in 2012, with news that consumer supplement use is growing, or at least staying constant, depending on which survey you believe.
Data from the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) annual survey indicated that 68% of American adults use nutritional or dietary supplements, matching the 69% in 2011, 66% in 2010 and 65% in 2009.
Multivitamins topped the tables for the most used supplement type, followed by omega-3s/fish oil, vitamin D, vitamin C, and calcium.
Data from The Vitamin Shoppe's annual survey indicated that dietary supplements usage was 63% of the US population.
Multivitamins again led the pack, followed by vitamin D, vitamin C, calcium, B vitamins, and fish oil.
The Vitamin Shoppe data also revealed that 93% of vitamin users are more confident about their health when taking dietary supplements, a 21% increase from 2011.
Dietitians
Additional data from CRN, published this year in the Nutrition Journal, indicated that dietitians are regularly using dietary supplements and almost all of them have recommended supplements to their clients at some time.
The survey revealed that 74% of the 300 dietitians surveyed said they regularly used dietary supplements, with bone health topping the reasons (58%), followed by overall health and wellness (53%), and to fill nutrient gaps (42%).
Market sizing
A report from Packaged Facts valued dietary supplement sales at a whopping $11.5 billion in 2012. The market researcher forecast this to rise to $15.5 billion by 2017.
Despite the economic uncertainty, the 2012 figure represents a 7% gain, said the report.
Condition-specific products were singled out for special attention, with women’s health, digestive health, joint health, and eye health.
Herbal sales in the mass channel increased by almost 3% while sales in the natural channel increased by 5.5%, according a report in HerbalGram, the publication of the American Botanical Council.
The ABC report valued herbal supplements sales in all channels at $5.3 billion in 2011, representing a healthy 4.3% increase from 2010.