Americans Lasting Love For Supplements
Not since the early 1980s have Americans been more obsessed with looking their best than right now. Although, back then, actress and producer, Jane Fonda, led a cult-like revolution with her home workout and exercise videos, seeing more than 17 million copies sold since hitting the consumer market in 1982.
Americans were hooked, and Fonda made more than $100 million from sales of her home workout videos.
Fast-forward several decades, and we're steadily approaching a new era of consumer health and well-being. The social media frenzy has fueled consumer demand for natural and organic remedies for all sorts of health and wellness products.
From the plethora of online coaches and personal trainers, that witnessed soaring popularity during the pandemic, as gyms had their doors shattered due to lockdown and quarantine restrictions, to the sudden rise in CBD oils, plant-based diets, and probiotics.
This year was no different. Demand for Ozempic, an FDA-approved drug that stabilized blood sugar levels in Type 2 Diabetes patients became a trending remedy for weight loss. Although experts suggest that Ozempic is not primarily considered a weight-loss treatment, several studies have shown that regular use of the injection can lead to decreased body weight and visible fat.
America's love for supplements is now fueling a billion-dollar industry, but experts are concerned about the possible negative side-effects unregulated, and sometimes sketchy supplements can have on consumers.
America's Growing Supplement Culture
While the leg warmers have come off, and consumers have since forgotten about their brightly colored spandex and home workout videos that have been gathering dust in the back of their closets since the 1990s, many have turned to supplements as being a more natural and organic alternative.
Grand View Research estimates that the U.S. dietary supplements market was valued at more than $50.91 billion in 2022. Other sources show that the global market is currently valued at $235 billion, with this figure expected to rise to more than $300 billion within the next five years.
Other research only further backs this claim that America's dietary and supplement market is expected to witness surging growth in the coming years.
According to results from a 2019 Harris Poll, researchers found that around four in five, or roughly 86 percent of American adults take vitamins or supplements. The poll was conducted on behalf of the American Osteopathic Association, and research concluded that only a quarter, or 24 percent of consumers taking these vitamins and supplements have indicated that they have some kind of nutritional deficiency.
But America's supplement culture is partly driven by consumers' holistic approach to well-being and personal health.
Some of the most frequently reported reasons consumers use supplements were to "improve" or "maintain" overall health, 45 percent, and 33 percent, respectively, claiming these as the biggest reason for taking supplements.
A closer look also shows that female consumer markets tend to be the biggest target audience, with more women using a variety of supplements for conditions such as "bone health," while male consumers were more likely to report using supplements for "heart health" or to "decrease cholesterol."
The pandemic also played a significant influence, with Millennial consumers (born between 1982 and 1996) now taking more supplements, vitamins, and minerals than before the pandemic.
Some 34 percent of consumers have increased their usage of supplements and vitamins since the pandemic, with more nearly half, around 47% of these being Millennials, according to research by Mintel.
Millennials are also backing their claims for using more supplements now, than they did just a couple of years ago. The majority of them said that supplements and vitamins support their overall physical health, while the second biggest reason is to boost the immune system. Other claims, such as mental well-being have also been among the reasons why there is such a strong demand for these products among younger consumers.
While there's always been demand for supplements, vitamins, and minerals, younger consumers are constantly engaged online. They're in an information overflow, meaning they can quickly research the efficacy of any product before making a decision."
Young Americans are more connected than ever. Around 97 percent of them have access to the Internet, while other generations, including Generation Z (born between 1998 and 2012) and Generation Alpha (born between 2013 and 2023) have never known a world without the internet.
The online ecosystem has allowed for consumers, whether older or younger, to have access to a plethora of supplement and multivitamin products. However, it's also caused many to fall for trends that are often considered ineffective or irreversible, meaning that consumers will need to rely on their ingenuity and company transparency to provide more clarity surrounding product benefits, the side-effects, and common ingredients.
Peter and Dusty McMullin, second generation entrepreneurs have found that more natural dietary supplements are gaining increasing momentum among a mirage of consumers from a variety of demographic groups.
Sibu was founded in 2004 by Bruce McMullin, with Peter and Dusty now at the helm of the company's management, the duo is hoping to continue their father's legacy, by providing consumers with effective, safe, natural, and transparent products.
Peter McMullin, President of Sibu says, "I think it's important to realize that there is still a lot of potential for supplements in the U.S. market, especially in terms of regulation and manufacturing standards. Consumers want access to more natural supplements, and although it might still be some time before we can see more of these products on the market, we've taken the leap to gradually introduce more organic products that address critical health and wellness issues within our consumer target audiences."
On the other side of the coin, dietary supplements have become a more suitable, and perhaps cheaper option for consumers who are not yet in the position to pay thousands of dollars for drugs that can help them lose a few inches around the waist.
Earlier in the year, new research from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surfaced, revealing that most American adults and nearly a third of children are using dietary supplements.
Although this information isn't anything new, the research showed that these figures have been steadily on the rise in the last couple of years. More than this, experts now believe these numbers to be even higher following the surge of supplement and vitamin use among consumers during the pandemic.
On average, the vitamin and supplement manufacturing industry in the U.S. has followed a steady pace of growth, with an average of 0.9% growth per year between 2017 and 2022, mirroring closely the same period of the CDC study which took place between 2017 and March 2020.
While regulation is necessary for most consumer products, Federal Legislators introduced the Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act in 1994, which exempts supplements from receiving FDA approval before being made available on the public market.
This has led to a wave of new supplement brands and companies coming to life in recent years, with many often taking advantage of the seemingly relaxed regulatory environment.
A trend that won't quit
Call it what you want, but Americans will forever remain obsessed with their health, and that's perhaps a positive thing, considering the overall poor general well-being of consumers, including physical and mental health.
However, the more consumers will continue to be sold on the idea that looking good is the foundation of being your best self, Americans will forever have a love-hate relationship with supplements.
As consumer trends change over time, and social media plays an increasingly important role, the supplement market will perhaps witness surging change in the years to follow, that's to say an unofficial endorsement from someone online would give the industry a push in the direction it's been waiting to move into.