Dietary supplement market sees growth

The market for dietary supplements has seen strong growth in recent years, reports Innova Market Insights. This reflects increasing consumer concern about the adverse effects of busy lifestyles and stress on health, as well as rising demand from an ageing population.

In addition to optimising health via diet, consumers are increasingly using supplements for areas of their lives perceived to need additional support. Europe accounts for 30% of global launch activity in supplements as recorded by Innova Market Insights.

Lu Ann Williams, director of innovation at Innova Market Insights, says, “Other factors driving the market include growing availability, the range of products and formats appearing and an increased focus on branding rather than just promoting specific ingredients and their potential benefits.”

The number of supplements available is large, featuring an increasing range of ingredients, although general vitamin and mineral products continued to dominate launches in 2015, accounting for 28% of the total, ahead of botanical and herbal products with nearly 14%.

Methods of delivery have also changed in the sector, with a move away from supplements in the form of tablets and capsules and towards alternative, easier to consume formats such as powders and liquids. There has also been rising interest in products that straddle the boundary between supplements and foods, such as dose delivery probiotic drinks.

Initiatives in the dietary supplements sector have increasingly moved toward targeting specific consumer groups with benefit oriented solutions. This involves not just lines formulated for groups such as women or older people, but also at application areas such as weight management – primarily weight loss – with nearly 10% of supplement launches taking this kind of positioning last year.

Another key growth area is sports supplements, which have seen rising levels of interest in line with sports nutrition as a whole. Usage is tending to spread away from professional sportsmen and athletes and more into the mainstream for a range of active consumers looking to improve their general health and performance levels.

“The high level of new product and promotional activity reflects the fact that the global supplements industry is increasingly competitive. This is both internally between different manufacturers and brands and between different ingredients targeting the same health conditions, and also externally where supplements have to compete with healthy foods, functional foods and even OTC pharmaceuticals to cater for increasingly demanding and savvy consumers,” adds Williams.

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