Are we falling out of love with vitamins? Sales fall as we opt for healthy food and tighten our purse strings

No longer a nation of pill poppers? Consumption of vitamins and other health supplements has fallen over the past four years

Sales of vitamins and health supplements have fallen as health conscious Britons opt for fruit and vegetables, new industry figures reveal. Thirty-five per cent of us regularly pop a supplement of some kind - down from 41 per cent on 2008, according to market analyst Mintel. It believes that products ranging from multivitamin pills to cod liver oil capsules have come to be seen as an unnecessary luxury to those cutting their budgets.

Furthermore, many food and drink products now claim to contain the same kind of health-giving ingredients, from omega-3 to various vitamins. The latest report found the UK market for vitamins and supplements will be worth £385 million this year, up just 2.7 per cent on last year.

This is due to price rises rather than volume, as Mintel’s figures show the number of supplement takers is gradually falling. It also predicts the amount spent will also start to fall over the next few years. The exception is amongst the elderly - 89 per cent take a daily supplement, often for bone or heart health. And with Britain’s population continuing to get older, it could help keep the industry buoyant for years to come, said Mintel.

THE BEST-SELLERS

Multivitamins are the most popular product on the market and supplements containing omega-3 are also popular due to much positive publicity about the health benefits. 

Iron tablets - particularly popular with women - are the biggest selling supplements of all, followed by calcium and zinc.

The company's senior consumer analyst Alexandra Richmond listed several factors the fall in overall popularity for vitamins and supplements. She said: 'Cautious consumer spending, lower consumption, competition from functional foods, lack of ground-breaking launch activity and new European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) requirements have all hampered elevated growth rates. 'The outlook for the market is lacklustre, with value sales falling in the short term.'

Seven in ten Britons who take vitamins and supplements do so to boost health in general, with 40 per cent believing they ward off illness and 35 per cent feeling an energy boost.

Ten per cent of people tak a supplement or vitamin pill because they think it will help prevent cancer. Just last month it was reported that taking a daily multivitamin pill can lower the risk of cancer. The researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in Boston, and Harvard Medical School found that regular use for more than a decade cuts the risk of developing the disease by 8 per cent. However, some studies of high-dose vitamins have shown they may do more harm than good.

 Source: Daily Mail UK  

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