A recent survey, ConsumerLab.com Survey of Vitamin and Supplement Users, that polled more than 10,000 participates showed the most popular dietary supplement to be fish oil, followed by multivitamins, CoQ10, vitamin D, B vitamins, magnesium, calcium, probiotics and vitamin C. With the exception of magnesium overtaking calcium, this years’ order is similar to that of last year’s survey.
Magnesium showed a 43.1 percent increase as opposed to 38.1 percent from last year – a relative growth of 13 percent and the largest increase in the supplement industry. Other popular supplements including CoQ10, vitamin D and B vitamins and probiotics have also increased, with probiotics reaching up to 40.2 percent of participants, which equals out to be a 37.8 percent increase from last year. Multivitamin and fish oil sales have declined, yet, they still were able to remain one of the top most popular supplements, taken by 60.2 percent and 65.6 percent, respectively, of consumers in the survey.
The largest decrease of all 32 supplements was weight loss supplements, falling to 8 percent from 10.7 percent last year, a 25 percent relative decrease. According to ConsumerLab.com, the drop was likely driven by a retraction of a study, which had shown a benefit with a green coffee bean extract, as well as government scrutiny of the promotion of weight loss products. The survey showed that the use of glucosamine/chondroitin, resveratrol and nutrition/protein powders and drinks have declined moderately while the intake of melatonin and vitamin K showed moderate increases.
“The changes in supplement use seem to reflect research findings and events that made headlines this past year,” said Tod Cooperman, MD, president of ConsumerLab.com. “For example, recent studies show a wide range of benefits with probiotics and magnesium, but indicate more limited applications for resveratrol than the general “life-extending” benefit for which it was originally touted.”
On average, participants were heavy users of supplements who reported taking at lease six different supplements every day and actively looked for information regarding the products. They were also asked to identify where they purchased their supplements, and rated 1,709 brands with 891 merchants that they had used.
“We began the annual survey several years ago to direct our product testing toward supplement categories and brands of greatest interest to ConsumerLab.com members,” said Cooperman. “It has evolved into an excellent barometer of the nutrition marketplace.”
For more information, visit www.consumerlab.com/reports/CLSurveyBrochure2015.pdf
