Vitamins and minerals are in a competitive market with a fragmented supply structure. Sales are increasingly dependent on media reports of clinical studies, as the media have become more interested in these medical trials--even in cases where the medical community has not reached a consensus opinion. The market has a large and stable base in standard vitamins/minerals, but it also has the ability to reformulate existing products to meet current consumer desires. This has led to an increasing number of condition-specific formulations that have ballooned since 2002, including multi-vitamin/mineral supplements with a specific focus on cardiovascular health, joint/bone health, and eye health. Formulas for weight control helped to give the market a temporary boost in 2002-2003, as did a fad for coral calcium for 2003. But as fads can help to give the market a boost, negative publicity on the efficacy and possible dangers of use of vitamin E caused significant declines in sales for 2004.

A population of Baby Boomers looking for a way to stay healthy and young is the main focus of the vitamins and minerals market. Older consumers tend to take supplements more regularly and also take more of them. The rise in the number of Americans over age 55 can help to grow the market in the coming years as Americans become proactive about maintaining and improving health.

The market for vitamin and mineral supplements reached $8.6 billion in 2004. Though mostly outside of the scope of this report, focus on condition-specific supplements look to offer the greatest hope for industry growth, including fish oil, Coenzyme Q10, and glucosamine, while negative publicity on vitamin E continues to appear in the media in 2005.

This report considers non-prescription (OTC) vitamin and mineral supplements, in liquid, tablet or chewable form. The sales data accounts for all channels, as Mintel has incorporated manufacturer-level sales from Nutrition Business Journal (NBJ).

Included are:

single-vitamin tablets or liquids (e.g., vitamin C, vitamin B)

single-mineral tablets (e.g., calcium, iron, selenium, zinc)

multi-vitamins and multi-vitamins with iron

non-prescription tonics (with and without iron or other minerals)

children’s OTC vitamins (chewable and liquid)

vitamin and mineral combinations (e.g., calcium and vitamin K)

multi-mineral preparations (e.g., calcium and iron)

Excluded are:

botanical and herbal supplements (e.g., Omega-3, echinacea, St. John’s Wort and Gingko Biloba, unless such herbals are combined with vitamins in a “chew,” effervescent, spray, pill or liquid format (e.g., tablets combining vitamin C, echinacea and zinc)

vitamin-enhanced/enriched food products (e.g., orange juice enriched or enhanced with calcium)

ingredients and extracts of animal (e.g., fish oil and plant origin plant stanols)