Nearly half of all adult Australians have bought vitamin supplements in the last six months, according to the latest research by Roy Morgan. A pharmacy is very clearly the preferred place to buy vitamins – nearly half the people who bought vitamins in the last six months did so in a pharmacy, compared to one in three from a supermarket and only one in eight from a health food store. According to information gathered by Neilsen, vitamin supplements are a growing market. In 2012, the vitamin market... ...Read more »

European consumers may soon be able to make more informed choices about their diet after scientists from the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) NDA panel reached a milestone in health claim assessment. Recently published evaluations, from more than 3 years of work by EFSA experts, details the findings from an assessment of 2,758 food-related general function health food claims to identify whether they were backed by sound scientific evidence. These new findings will now assist the European... ...Read more »

New research by US-based consumer research company Sloan Trends Inc has found that US consumers are increasingly choosing foods for their inherent nutritional value, rather than using dietary supplements. Sloan Trends’ research found a six per cent increase in the number of people making an effort to serve meals that are naturally higher in vitamins and nutrition from 2009 to 2011 (36 to 42 per cent). At the same time, according to Sloan Trends, vitamin and supplement users in the US have... ...Read more »

The Canadian Government has announced it will reform the way it regulates energy drinks in Canada. Energy drinks are non-alcoholic beverages characterised by the addition of ‘energy enhancing’ ingredients. These may include a number of water-soluble B vitamins, amino acids and other substances, and caffeine. The proposed Canadian legislation includes: A cap on the amount of caffeine that can be included in an energy drink at 180 mg per single serving. In addition to current labels that... ...Read more »

A study published this week in The Archives of Internal Medicine has found that high levels of mineral intake in dietary supplements may not be a good thing. Researchers from the University of Eastern Finland and the University of Minnesota, in the US, assessed the use of vitamin and mineral supplements 38,772 women in the longitudinal Iowa Women’s Health Study. The women had an average age of 62. Supplement use was self-reported in 1986, 1997, and 2004. The researchers found that those women... ...Read more »

Food scientist Vanessa Teter, of food-enhancement technology company Watson Inc, has published a review of the latest trends in food fortification for Natural Products Insider. The review named the top three vitamins and minerals for food fortification as calcium, vitamin A and vitamin D. Vitamins C and E are listed as up-and-coming additives, with their antioxidant properties and possible cancer treatment potential boosting popularity. Vitamin E weathered a number of negative and inconclusive studies... ...Read more »

Pill popping is giving way to healthier diets, according to new research from the UK. A new report from Mintel suggests the UK’s £396 million (A$825m) vitamins and supplements market is set to be a victim of its own nutrition agenda. Improved education on diet and nutrition has been a root cause of the struggles as the nation continues to eat more healthily and cuts back on its vitamins and minerals intake. The number of Brits popping supplements has been in steady decline since 2007, with... ...Read more »