With more than one-third of United States children taking some sort of vitamin or supplement, marketers and retailers give their views on hot market items.
When it comes to supplements, there’s a big market for little guys and girls. From day one, parents want to make sure growing bodies are getting the proper nutrients. It’s estimated that one-third of U.S. children take some sort of daily vitamin, according to a researchers at University of California Davis Children’s Hospital in Sacramento.
Tony Joffe, owner of Health Best in New Jersey, has approximately 15 lines of supplements for children’s health in his store. “Children’s health is very important,” he said. “It’s a priority. A child’s well-being has always been hand-in-hand with adult health.”
Some of Health Best’s top-selling children’s products include Child Life, Hyland’s and Nature’s Plus, which makes Animal Parade. “They are solid companies,” Joffe said. “You don’t find them in chain stores.”
Tom Donnelly, owner of Autumn Harvest in New Jersey, agrees that his customers put children’s health high on the priority list. After all, half of his customers are moms.
Donnelly said, “They are pretty educated [on nutrition and supplements] and have a good idea of what they want.”
Probiotics for Children’s Health
Autumn Harvest carries a number of children’s health products including multiple vitamins, vitamin D, cold and flu remedies, and relaxation products. And since kids are often overprescribed antibiotics, probiotics are very popular in his store. In fact, in addition to vitamin D and liquid multiples, probiotics are the most popular children’s supplement.
Jamie Morea, co-founder of supplement maker Hyperbiotics in Nevada, can’t deny the importance of probiotics. “Gut health begins at birth,” she said. “With digestive probiotics, the most important factor is that the bacteria are protected from stomach acids so that they arrive in the small and large intestine alive and can set up shop, make their home and start supporting the health of the child. The reality is that most chewables, powders and gummies simply cannot have this protection, and the probiotics begin dying as soon as they enter the child’s mouth.”
Additionally, she said, “With our PRO-Kids formula, we decided to do things differently. We decided to focus on an effective probiotic supplement with the hopes that it would also be well-received by children. And we succeeded!”
According to Morea, the PRO-Kids tablet is a tiny pearl that can be easily ingested whole or mixed with cold foods. Once swallowed, the tablet is moistened by gastric fluids and a gel matrix forms that creates a protective layer, shielding beneficial organisms from stomach acids and directing them to release later in their journey. Once inside the gastrointestinal tract, probiotics begin to release at consistent levels from the tablet core, delivering a potent percentage of living organisms throughout the day and throughout the child’s gut, traveling deep into the intestinal tract where they are needed most.
PRO-Kids and PRO-Kids ENT probiotic formulas were developed to balance the flora both in children’s digestive system and in their oral cavity. “The balance of flora is critical to keeping them on the path of wellness,” said Morea. “We also know that children are often either on a positive trajectory of optimal health or stuck in a vicious cycle of health habits that can be hard to break.”
PRO-Kids is patented in 31 countries and according to Morea, it’s the only controlled-release delivery available for probiotics on the market. She said, “In vitro lab testing shows that less than 4 percent of the probiotics in most chewables, powders and capsules survive stomach acids to deliver any benefit. With patented technology, the probiotic organisms in PRO-Kids are released over an eight to 10-hour period so they bypass stomach acids and reach the intestinal tract alive, where they are needed most. So your child can experience the full benefits that probiotics have to offer.”
The formula includes B.infantis, the powerful probiotic found in breastfed infants, along with other strains to replenish the good bacteria in your child’s gut and keep him/her healthy by aiding in digestion; helping absorb the nutrients from their food and vitamins; strengthening their immune system; and supporting the gut-brain connection. Hyperbiotics uses a patented manufacturing process that allows them to guarantee a shelf-life of 18 months with no refrigeration.
Good Quality and Good Taste
With probiotics for children on the rise, companies have been offering the supplements in various forms to entice kids to take them, such as powders, gummies and chewables. However, there is a downside—artificial ingredients, artificial flavors and sugar, like in gummy vitamins, Morea pointed out.
“Children are often used to sweet treats like candy, which is the reason so many children’s supplements are colored, flavored, and have added sugars,” she said. “These ingredients may not be in the best interest of the child, but it often does entice them to take their vitamins on a daily basis.”
So even though the demand for probiotics has created a new awareness and is a step in the right direction, Morea believes that as an industry, there should be better.
“At Hyperbiotics, only the good stuff is used, with none of the bad,” she said, adding, “and the taste is still great.” With good flavor in mind, PRO-Kids ENT, which was designed to support healthy ears, nose, throat, sinuses—and even teeth—comes in a sugar free, natural strawberry flavor. “Children love it!” Morea said. In addition to being free of sugar and artificial colors, PRO-Kids supplements are also free of lactose, soy and gluten.
SmartyPants Vitamins in California is another company that strives for a quality children’s product without sacrificing deliciousness. Co-founder and co-CEO Courtney Nichols Gould said, “I think any product that tastes good is clearly the key ingredient in making a kids’ product. You can make the cleanest, highest quality product on the market, but if it doesn’t taste good, it’s going to sit on the shelf. SmartyPants is committed to not using synthetic colors, artificial flavors, sweeteners, or preservatives. All SmartyPants products are non-GMO (genetically modified organism) and third party lab tested.”
In addition to having a product that tastes good, Gould also believes that it has to be combined with a format that’s easy for parents, travels well, and doesn’t need additional ingredients.
Kids Complete is the best-selling product from SmartyPants, with Kids Complete Plus Fiber catching up quickly. Gould said, “They are both top of category on Amazon. I think people know our brand stands for quality and that is important to more and more parents.”
Gould believes that there’s a growing trend for parents to keep their kids healthy in the first place. Challenges associated with any child’s sickness, such as missing work due to a sick kid, makes an investment in preventative health a smart strategy for anyone who has children. “It’s clear to us that parents are only growing more discerning in the choices they make for supplementation,” she said.
She also feels that allergies are of great and growing concern to parents, and that products free of most common allergens, such as SmartyPants products, are in a category where demand will grow.
Baby Wellness
UpSpring Ltd. in Texas is yet another company that supports all natural ingredients in children’s supplements and frowns upon the synthetics. Co-founder and CEO Lisa Rowe said, “It’s no longer enough to just have a few key vitamins if those vitamins are surrounded by artificial ingredients. Parents are becoming far more selective when choosing products that their children consume, and they have all the information they need to make those decisions at their fingertips.”
UpSpring launched their all-natural Wellbaby liquid vitamin line nearly two years ago, with the intent of improving the health and wellness for moms and babies. Rowe said, “Our Wellbaby line provides the most complete vitamins for babies. It’s all natural and easy to give the baby. We love to create innovative products that make life easier. We saw significant opportunities in the vitamins and supplements space to deliver all-natural, high-quality products that are easy for moms and children to take. We also want to deliver products with real science and real efficiency behind them.”
Due to all-natural ingredients, low-cost per serving, and the easy-to-use dropper, the Wellbaby line has done very well, Rowe said. “The dropper is critical because it allows moms to be sure the baby gets the full dose easily the first time,” she added.
In 2014, UpSpring launched Milkflow, a line of natural flavored fenugreek drinkable breastfeeding supplements, available in three flavors. “We want to help moms breastfeed as long as they want so their babies can keep getting that liquid gold,” Rowe said. “Fenugreek is a bitter herb that helps promote breast milk supply. Moms traditionally had to take six to 12 fenugreek capsules per day or drink a bitter fenugreek tea. We thought, ‘There has to be a better way.’”
Sales Enhancement
In order for retailers to further boost sales of children’s products, Rowe suggests signage. “One of the most frustrating things for a parent, especially with a child in tow, is not being able to find the product easily,” she said.
And once a product is found, moms will probably have questions. Rowe recommends that a store’s staff is well educated about children’s products. “Hands down, it’s one of the easiest ways to drive excitement,” she said. “It’s why we work with many partners by providing an educational material for employees so they can better understand all the benefits of our products.”
Knowledge has had a significant impact on the children’s health market, as many parents become more aware of the importance of using natural alternatives. They are more willing to seek out products that are free of harmful ingredients, yet efficacious. The consumer group of health conscious moms is growing as more and more information becomes available linking healthy eating, exercise and proper nutrient intake to better health for both children and adults. As this group becomes more informed, they are also demanding high-quality products and ingredients.
Natural Solutions for Head Lice
Risa Barash, owner and founder of Fairy Tales Hair Care, in New Jersey, developed the brand to offer a natural solution to fight the many cases of head lice she and her husband Robert noticed, coming into their family’s salon in Hewlett, New York. In business since 1999, Fairy Tales Hair Care produces an assortment of non-toxic hair care products and bug repellents for children. Barash said that Fairy Tales Hair Care is the happy medium between traditional home remedies and harsh over-the-counter products.
For example, she noted, “In the case of lice, many feel olive oil and mayonnaise will do the trick for at-home remedies. However, although these ingredients will eventually smother a live bug, they will never be able to remove nits, which is the trickiest part when stopping a lice outbreak. Pesticides are never the solution. The chemicals are harsh and no longer proven effective to kill the latest strain of lice. Using a naturally occurring non-bacterial enzyme from a safe yeast strain is how we were able to create the effective Lice Good-Bye Treatment. The foaming formula effectively treats lice by allowing for the lice, as well as the nits, to be lifted from the hair using a fine, nit-free comb in conjunction with the product.”
The same concept applies when it comes to preventing lice. Barash recommends using organic herbs such as rosemary, tea tree and citronella. “The scent of these extracts helps repel the bugs,” she said. “It’s natural and effective.”
Rosemary Repel hairspray and gel could be used as an additional layer of protection, providing a coating on the strands which make it difficult for lice to attach to the hair shaft.
According to Barash, their products were tested at the Lice Solutions Non-Profit Center and were proven to be up to 96 percent effective when correctly used.
Fairy Tales Hair Care offers retailers their Facts of Lice brochure, which details what to look for and what to do during a lice outbreak. Barash pointed out that if a retailer tells one mother that they carry Fairy Tales Hair Care, the rest is done. She said, “One local lice outbreak and a retailer can sell-out in minutes. We have had retailers leave one bottle of Rosemary Repel Conditioning Spray at the register and have watched sales triple in just days!”
Children’s Health Market Gains Appeal
In the grand scheme of things, the children’s health market is gaining wide audience appeal, according to Morea of Hyperbiotics.
Three specific trends she noticed include: gummy vitamins, even though they are often high in sugar and artificial ingredients; branded marketing with cartoons and movies to gain wide audience appeal; and studies to support market trends, such as Euromonitor International: “The Growing Pediatric and Prenatal Supplements Market.”
Rowe of UpSpring agreed that the category will continue to grow with innovative ways to provide children with all natural products to improve their overall nutrition. She said, “It’s no longer enough just to have a few key vitamins if those vitamins are surrounded by artificial ingredients. Parents are becoming far more selective when choosing products that their children consume and they have all the information they need to make those decisions at their fingertips.” VR
For More Information:
Fairy Tales Hair Care, (888) 244-1900
Hyperbiotics, (800) 711-5952
SmartyPants Vitamins, (310) 577-9525
UpSpring, (512) 828-7988
