Health Concern Supplement Manufacturer
The market trends in dietary supplements reflect current scientific research combined with current health conditions and trends. A look at the neutraceutical market today will show that there are specific products for supporting specific health conditions for the heart, lung, diabetes, pregnancy, supplements specifically for women, men and women over 40, for children and for the aging, those actively involved in sports, body building, for dieters, for skin and digestion, and for hair care. General health products for overall health and nutrition are still available categorized by age groups and gender.
Growing Research and Health Trends
As more studies are done on specific supplements, more customers are looking for health supplement manufacturers they can trust to withstand the rigor of scientific review. The medical community has grown more receptive to nutritional supplementation. The market is continually expanding. As a result, there is an increase in specialty formulations. Supplement manufacturers with high QC processes providing new and efficient solutions for growing manufacturing needs are in high demand.The demand for health supplements that provide preventive health and an alternative to pharmaceutical drugs with its related side effects will continue to grow.
Consider these facts:
- As an aging population continues to rise, there is a strong demand for products that help maintain aging health. These include antioxidant formulas, anti-inflammatories, products that support eye health and brain health, and cardiovascular support products
- There is a continued interest and growth in menopausal support products in reaction to the negative research surrounding hormone replacement therapy.
- The demand for exercise programs, diets and supplements to aid in weight management will continue.
- The glucosamine / chondroitin market is still very active and represents a significant portion of this industry. More people are interested in essential fatty acid (EFA) formulations.
- There is more research being performed on botanicals and the herbal segment of our industry is a hot, growing segment.
- Green foods are another very hot segment.
- The high-protein, low-carb trend is certainly influencing supplements in traditional and powdered forms. These can be found in meal replacement drinks and in mixes targeting the fitness industry.
- Men’s health is finally receiving increased attention. Multiple vitamin and mineral supplement designed to provide specific nutrient support for men is on the rise.
- Sales of vegetable capsules are on the rise. There are consumers who are very vegetarian oriented who like to stay away from animal-based products and prefer a vegetable-type capsule.
- There is even a demand for kosher nutritional supplements.
Some of these products are supported by truly excellent research that have demonstrable benefit and which are not only effective, but also safe and reasonably cheap too.
Easier Consumer Choice
With commercialization of products bombarding the public, the challenge of choice can be quite daunting. Supplement manufacturers can make the choice easier. For instance, in 1994 Bayer’s introduced a line of 8 major specialized health supplements. Jim Kindel, category director of nutritionals at Bayer said, “Consumers will no longer have to sort through a mind-boggling array of herbs and vitamins to try to figure out which ingredients to use to maintain their good health. We’re making it a lot more convenient for consumers. We’ve done the homework – and even the legwork – so they don’t have to.” Using a specific focus for maintaining specific health concerns made Bayer’s One-A-Day different than other vitamin brands that focused on overall total nutrition with a multivitamin.
Consumer Demand
Designer Nutrition is in. Years of research and understanding what consumers need, can help supplement manufacturers to produce supplements that are more specific to the needs of today’s health conscious public. Don Kendall, co-founder and CEO of GreenTree Nutrition said, “We are seeing an overwhelming demand from customers for a wellness solution that is personalized to meet their needs,”In 2000, Acumin’s began SmartSelect, an online system that evaluates the customer’s specific needs to formulate a set of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and herbs designed specifically for that person. Customers’ needs are assessed, and they are given one of over 37 million formulation combinations personalized to meet their exact criteria. By providing more personal nutrition, more specific to their personal health needs, people who used to take a dozen pills a day can take just three or four. Along with the demand for more specialized nutritional supplements, manufacturers are seeing the need to empower consumers with comprehensive and personalized information they can trust to make informed choices about their health and nutrition. Their websites combine objective health information with the cost advantages and convenience of online shopping.
Good Business Strategy
Besides providing the consumer with a more informed and personalized nutritional supplement choice, from a business perspective, having a specific demographic or a specific health product for a specific health condition is imperative to sell a product. A company must know who will be buying the product so that it can market specifically to those consumers. Advertising and marketing becomes more specialized and targeted and more importantly, advertising is more likely to succeed when geared to a specific target consumer audience.
The Future
No two people are alike in their supplementation needs. A one-size-fits-all dietary solution cannot be universally applied. Biological individuality calls us to look for an integrated supplementation approach, one which addresses metabolism, lymphatic function, blood circulation, skin health, detoxification capacity, digestive function, immune function not excluding genetics and heredity, exposure to environmental toxins, and even culture. Other causes of nutritional deficiencies are traced to psychological and physical stressors, activity levels, age, weight, gender, lifestyle, habits and sensitivities.
Therefore, a personalized approach is necessary, which will result in prescribing a combination of dietary supplements for individual needs.During the past several years, the focus of nutritional sciences has shifted from deficiency disease prevention to optimizing health and chronic disease prevention. This research, along with the expectations of the increasingly health-conscious consumer, is leading to more highly tailored food choices and nutritional recommendations to meet individuals’ specific needs. The challenge for neutraceuticals in the near future will be to provide tailored choices for specific health conditions.