While multis provide a foundational supplement, single vitamins and minerals offer a personalized solution.

Sure, multivitamin/mineral complexes shine as a foundational supplement for good health and well-being. But single vitamins and minerals, which tend to stay behind the spotlight, are not bit players. According to the newly published CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Health & Nutrition Survey 2023, 32 percent of respondents stated that they consume single vitamins daily. That’s nearly 70 percent who don’t, meaning, there’s tremendous opportunity for retailers here.

And at first blush, it appears that industry can do more to encourage increased intake of single vitamins and mineral supplements (VMs), consumers are slowly getting the message, according to several sources for this article.

Increased availability and more single VMs to choose from are two reasons why this category should see accelerated growth, according to Andreas Koch, marketing, Natural Path Silver Wings, Tennessee. Compared to past years, he observed, VMs today are “better priced, more convenient to take and formulated with vastly improved absorption, such as highly concentrated liquid droppers.”

Neil Edward Levin, CCN, DANLA, senior nutrition education manager, Illinois-based NOW, observed “a continuing increase in demand for vitamins and minerals in the United States. In fact, demand is up considerably this year over last year.” He reported that NOW is seeing “significant” sales of magnesium and calcium, as well as vitamins C, D, E and K.

At Wisconsin-based Your Healthy Place, owner Tim O’Brien related that vitamin D is “by far our most popular single vitamin. Immune system sustenance, mood, prevent deficiencies and overall health seem to be the top reasons that customers want to take vitamin D. Magnesium is our top mineral requested by a landslide from our customers. The top reasons that customers want magnesium is caring for potential and common mag deficiencies, sleep health, stress reduction and digestive aid.”

Indeed, magnesium “is a heavy hitter” and NOW continues to see significant sales of all magnesium products, according to Levin. Magnesium in general resonates with consumers because of its widely varying benefits, estimated to contribute to well over 300 biochemical processes. Magnesium citrate continues to dominate this category; though other forms of magnesium chelates such as Magtein (magnesium-L-threonate), glycinate, and malate forms are also very popular.

Erica Quant, R&D assistant for California-based ChildLife Essentials, observed, “Although multivitamins usually have plentiful amounts of vitamins, they usually have a low amount of minerals. In this case, a product that targets minerals, like Childlife’s Liquid Calcium with Magnesium, would be a great option for parents who want to ensure their children have enough of these minerals.”

Ohad Cohen, CEO, Gadot Biochemical Industries, noted that children experience rapid growth and development, and minerals are essential for various physiological processes. Minerals like calcium, iron, zinc and magnesium are crucial for bone development, cognitive function, immune support and overall growth.

It is widely known that calcium and magnesium are the main minerals essential for supporting long-term bone health. “When combined in the right ratio with magnesium the body can absorb calcium without causing adverse side effects,” Cohen asserted, adding that magnesium can also be combined with vitamin D. “In fact, it’s probably best to take both together. Because so many people have low magnesium levels, vitamin D supplements on their own aren’t very helpful for a large portion of the population.”

In minerals, form matters. According to Cohen, there are various calcium and magnesium mineral sources, but citrates have an added value and are highly absorbable. “Citrates are the only form of mineral salts that support the reduction of kidney stones and absorption is independent of the timing (before/after meal),” he explained.

However, this mix for bone health is not complete without vitamin K2 as menaquinone-7, which has human clinical evidence demonstrating its ability to ensure incoming calcium is deposited into the bone framework and away from major arteries, according to Stacey Smith, DC, marketing and communications, NORAM, Gnosis by Lesaffre (France; NJ). Retailers are beginning to see K2 in more bone-health formulas as well as single offerings. Smith elaborated, “MenaQ7 vitamin K2 has been the source material for more than 22 published human clinical trials confirming the safe and efficacious health benefits of vitamin K2 as MK-7. These have been conducted with healthy and patient populations, in adults and children.”

VMs to Emphasize

While K2 is gaining in consumer awareness and thus, new product launches and is therefore on a path to center stage, there are several single vitamins and minerals that can and should be spotlighted.

According to Jim Daily, PhD, president, Daily Manufacturing, North Carolina, vitamin B-12 is frequently required as additional supplementation—especially for vegetarians and vegans.

A mineral that doesn’t seem to get its time in the sun is iodine, according to retailer O’Brien. “Iodine is, in a variety of ways, a ‘forgotten mineral.’ It used to be prioritized so much that it was handed out throughout the public school system and now people are deficient, know very little about it, and in a number of cases, believe it to be ‘bad.’ Iodine is vital in so many areas of the body.”

Folate—not folic acid—is becoming the preferred form of B9 and for solid reason, according to Smith. “Children, pregnant women and the elderly are prime examples of developmental needs, absorption capacity and a decrease in production over time. There are also individual health conditions that may increase certain nutrient requirements, such as genetic mutations; for example, the MTHFR polymorphism, which decreases the ability of our body to convert folate appropriately to the usable, bioavailable form of folate.”

There are ways to increase sales of single vitamins and minerals. “Encouraging customers to consider single vitamins and minerals in addition to multivitamins can be a strategic challenge for retailers,” commented Trisha Sugarek MacDonald, BS, MS, senior director of research and development and national educator for Texas-based Bluebonnet Nutrition Corp.

She provided six strategies to deploy that should boost the sales velocity of single vitamins and minerals.

1. Education and Information: Provide customers with clear and accurate information about the benefits of individual vitamins and minerals. Create in-store displays, brochures or online resources that explain why specific nutrients are important for various aspects of health.

2. Personalized Recommendations: Offer personalized consultations or online tools to help customers determine their nutritional needs. This can help them understand that a one-size-fits-all approach may not meet their unique requirements and also provide impetus for in-store or online purchase.

3. Highlight Specific Health Goals: Tailor your marketing and product placement to address specific health goals or concerns, such as bone support, brain support, etc.

4. Promotions and Bundles: Offer promotions or bundles that make buying single vitamins and minerals more cost-effective than purchasing a multivitamin. This can incentivize customers to try individual supplements.

5. Expert Advice: Ensure all staff members are knowledgeable about vitamins and minerals and have them available to answer customer questions.

6. Content Marketing: Use your website and social media channels to create informative content about vitamins and minerals. Post articles, videos and infographics that explain the importance of specific nutrients and how they can complement a multivitamin and do so regularly.

“The key to successfully promoting single vitamins and minerals is to focus on highlighting their specific health benefits and how they can complement a multivitamin rather than trying to dissuade customers from multivitamin usage entirely,” she added.

Take It to The Limit

Nobel Prize-winning chemist Linus Pauling is famous (or infamous) for taking mammoth doses of vitamin C daily as he was convinced it created a super-immunity. Although very few if any of your customers would follow suit, many may be motivated to take very high doses based on the ingrained mindset that “more is better.”

Safe upper levels (SUL) were established for most vitamins and minerals in a 2003 report by the Expert Group on Vitamins and Minerals. The report determined the maximum daily intake of nutrients from both supplements and diet that it is safe to consume on a long-term basis. These are based on consumption of a typical European diet and are generally far higher than the nutrient reference value or amount that would be in a typical multivitamin.

According to Dayna Dye, education content writer, Florida-based Life Extension, while the most common adverse effect associated with too much vitamin C is diarrhea, fat-soluble vitamins and minerals can accumulate in the body and they “should be consumed within a prudent yet optimal range.”

One challenge with vitamin C in high doses is that it is quickly used and excreted, therefore the individual is not attaining the optimal benefits desired. C-Fence, from India-based Nutriventia, is a sustained-release vitamin C. A randomized, placebo-controlled study showed that a 500 mg dose of C-Fence showed that levels of vitamin C were sustained well-above the baseline values for the entire 24-hour study duration. In fact, said Rajat Shah, co-founder, the average time to achieve maximum levels in participants’ plasma was approximately 4.5 hours, in contrast to the typical two to three hours with immediate-release formulations.

An example she provided is copper. The RDA for copper is 900 mcg daily for women and men. While copper is essential to health, too much can act as a pro-oxidant and reduce levels of the essential mineral zinc, which is already insufficiently consumed by many individuals. “Although the RDA for some vitamins and minerals is well below optimal, for this mineral, it is wise not to supplement with more than 1 milligram per day. However, customers who supplement high amounts of zinc may need more.”

In contrast, Dye stated, water-soluble vitamins are safer to consume in greater than RDA. Because they are not stored in the body, amounts consumed in excess of what the body uses will be excreted in the urine. And as there are always exceptions to the rules, in this case, she warned, continual high amounts of vitamin B6 is associated with the development of peripheral neuropathy, making this a water-soluble vitamin for which some caution should be exercised.

Levin related that it is common for people to take up to 1,000 mg of vitamin C at a time, which significantly exceeds the DV of 90 mg, but remains well below the tolerable upper limit of 2,000 mg daily, set by the NIH. He noted that the NIH recommendations of upper limits include large margins of safety below actual risk levels.

Vitamin D is considered safe at levels up to 10,000 IU daily but the Institute of Medicine set the tolerable upper limit at only 4,000 IU to provide a wide safety margin. He also reported that the tolerable UL for vitamin E is 1,000 mg (or 1,500 IU).

Levin added that there are some essential vitamins and minerals do not have specified tolerable upper limits as the Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board (IOM FNB) has not found evidence that they are harmful at specific levels. Vitamins B12 and K are examples, as they have low potential for toxicity, according to the IOM FNB.

Smith related, “To date there is no official assigned daily value (DV) for vitamin K2, making it even harder for consumers to understand how much K2 they need to get daily. The current recommended daily intake (RDI) for vitamin K reflects the action of K1 for healthy blood coagulation and is based on median K1 intakes from national surveys in 2001.

“However,” she noted, “in the past 20-plus years, researchers have revealed that vitamin K2’s separate and distinct mechanism of action requires its own RDI. Comprehensive studies show that simply correcting K2 deficiency can deliver unprecedented improvements in bone and heart health.” Gnosis has been working with various academic institutions and trade associations to try to earn the attention of the governing bodies that could change this and create a K2-specific RDI.

According to Daily, very high doses of vitamins and minerals can sometimes induce more of a pharmacological effect beyond meeting nutritional requirements and this needs to be conveyed to consumers seeking to supplement with optimum doses. For example, niacin can be used for controlling cholesterol and triglycerides at doses in the range of 1,500-2,000 mg per day— which is generally considered a pharmaceutical dose, separate from niacin’s nutritional benefits.

It is easier for customers to take excessive amounts of minerals, Daily added. Some minerals, like calcium, can cause constipation or, like magnesium, can cause diarrhea. Excessive iron is a pro-oxidant that can lead to increased oxidative stress in the body and lead to cancer and liver and cardiovascular diseases. However, iron deficiency is one of the most common deficiencies seen in Americans. Therefore, he advised, customers considering an iron supplement should be cautioned to take great care and use iron in modest amounts when needed.

Some minerals are certainly beneficial to take at higher strength doses, Koch noted. For example, he pointed out, colloidal silver liquid mineral for daily immune maintenance is ideal at 50 ppm strength. “But then 250 ppm is a safe enhanced immune support for when you’re traveling, in large crowds or when your immune system is low. Or 500 ppm extra strength immune support is your “go-to,” when stressed or focusing on boosting your seasonal wellness. Like many supplements, the body naturally flushes out within 10-12 hours so elevated doses indeed have value depending on changing body necessities.”

Sugarek MacDonald warned that regularly exceeding the UL can lead to toxicity and health problems. “It’s important to note that the UL represents the maximum safe intake from all sources, including food, supplements and fortified foods,” she emphasized. Individual tolerance to nutrients may vary, and customers considering supplementing with single vitamins or minerals in high doses should be advised to let their health care practitioner know first.

The following are a few examples of single VMs and their upper limits, which may differ between men and women, and age.

Vitamin D: UL: 100 micrograms (mcg) (4,000 IU) daily, depending on age and individual factors. And although D is a star at the moment, excessive vitamin D intake can lead to hypercalcemia, a condition characterized by high levels of calcium in the blood, which can cause kidney stones, cardiovascular problems and other health issues.

Vitamin A: 3,000 mcg per day, depending on age, gender, and health condition status. For younger ages (infants to 18 years of age), the UL is 600 to 2,800 mcg per day. Excess vitamin A intake can lead to hypervitaminosis A, which can cause symptoms such as nausea, dizziness, and, in severe cases, hair loss, bone pain and liver damage.

Iron: UL: 45 mg daily for all males and females aged 14-plus years of age. For younger ages, the UL is 40 mg. High doses of iron can lead to iron toxicity, causing symptoms like nausea, vomiting and even organ damage. Levin noted that the 45 mg was set due to the association if iron and gastrointestinal disturbances. “It’s commonly known that well-absorbed forms of minerals tend to cause fewer GI (gastrointestinal) disturbances than poorly absorbed forms,” he commented. “For example, the old school non-chelated form ferrous sulfate has long been implicated in causing GI disturbances at lower levels than modern chelated forms such as Albion’s iron bisglycinate.”

Folate (Folic Acid): UL: 1,000 mcg per day for adults. For younger ages (infants to 18 years of age), the UL is 300 to 800 mcg per day. Intermittent dosages of up to 15 mg in the form of L-methylfolate are sometimes recommended when under a physician’s care. High doses of folic acid supplements can mask vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms and may have other adverse effects.

Vitamin C: UL: 2,000 mg per day for adults. Excessive vitamin C intake can lead to gastrointestinal discomfort, including diarrhea, and may interfere with the absorption of other nutrients.

Too Much, Too Little?

One concern customers may voice is potentially taking too much of a single vitamin or mineral, which may cause unpleasant side effects. Levin assured, “There are studies indicating that it is rare for anyone to overdose on specific vitamins or minerals when taking only multivitamin formulas, which also prevent most instances of vitamin deficiencies.”

However, he continued, adding other supplements or fortified foods supplying additional vitamins and minerals can change the potential risks. Excess intake of vitamins A and D, iron and zinc are the primary concerns, “but adding any extra vitamins and minerals, even calcium, to a balanced multivitamin/mineral formula does warrant some scrutiny and judgment.”

Here, advising customers to read labels and add the totals will help them to see what they normally consume and to supplement with single vitamins and minerals accordingly, especially if they have condition-specific concerns or are in situations where added single vitamins/minerals are recommended by their physicians.

Conversely, very few Americans have vitamin or mineral deficiencies serious enough to warrant medical intervention. That stated, according to Daily, it is not uncommon for people to have sub-optimal vitamin and mineral status. The CDC reports that common mineral insufficiencies are iron (especially in women of childbearing age), zinc and iodine.

“Zinc insufficiency is common and it can impair immune function, cause poor hair and nail growth, and impede wound healing,” he explained. “Iodine deficiency was largely eliminated by fortifying salt with iodine. However, with many people avoiding salt and using non-iodized salt, iodine deficiency is becoming more common.”

Single VMs are a balancing act, as you can see. Overall, the single VMs could serve as an excellent way to open a conversation about supplementation for both the short- and long-term and for specific support as well as overall robust well-being. VR

For More Information:

Bluebonnet Nutrition Corp., www.bluebonnetnutrition.com
Childlife Essentials, www.childlifenutrition.com
Daily Manufacturing, www.dailymfg.com
Gadot Biochemical Industries, www.gadotbio.com
Gnosis by Lesaffre, www.menaq7.com; www.quatrefolic.com
Life Extension, www.lifeextension.com
Natural Path Silver Wings, www.npswsilver.com
NOW, www.nowfoods.com
Nutriventia, www.nutriventia.com

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