Vitamin D U.S. market thrives

The evidence scientists have learned over the past few years shows that vitamin D is not just a simple raw material for bone health. Studies in the past 10 years have highlighted the health benefits of vitamin D, which are associated with preventing falls and nerves respectively. Muscle function, immunity, insulin response, and gut health are related. As a result, people's understanding of vitamin D is also changing. Nowadays, vitamin D is no longer just a raw material that is interdependent with calcium, but has a unique function. Healthy ingredients.

This new perspective has made Vitamin D one of the fastest growing raw materials in the U.S. market.

U.S. sales soar

Thanks to the praise of Oprah Winfrey, the talk show host, the growth rate of the US vitamin D market has reached three digits. Winfrey told her audience that the adequate intake of vitamin D can be 5 times the current daily recommended intake (RDI).

Market research firm F&S said that sales of vitamin D supplements in the United States soared by 127% in 2008 and increased by 117% in the first quarter of 2009.

A similar scenario also appeared in the research data of market research agency Euromonitor. The company concluded on the basis of 2009 prices that the sales of vitamin D in the United States have increased from US$ 141.1 million in 2005 to 2009. 3.663 billion U.S. dollars.

Euromonitor expects that vitamin D will continue to develop in the US market, and that this market will have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.2% from 2009 to 2014.

The growth momentum of vitamin D may seem unstoppable in the U.S. market, but it has not made significant progress in other markets. In Australia, sales of vitamin D supplements increased from US$1 million to 110 in 2005-2009. In the same period, sales of vitamin D supplements increased from 5.8 million US dollars to 7.7 million US dollars in the same period.

An analyst at Euromonitor believes that vitamin D will continue to grow, but it will not grow as much as expected.

Regulatory hurdles improved

The lack of media attention and the challenges faced by formulas have been used to explain why the vitamin D market is unabashed. But there is a view that regulatory policy may be the biggest challenge facing this market. F&S has issued a report that the regulation is A major factor hindering the thriving vitamin D market.

However, this situation is changing. Euromonitor analyst Ewa Hudson said that the approval of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on the role of vitamin D in raising immunity may open a new path for the development of the functional food market.

Although supplements currently dominate the vitamin D market, functional foods are slowly gaining ground. Dairy products such as milk and cheese are the most popular products fortified with vitamin D, while fruit juices, cereals and baby foods Also let people look forward to.

In the United States, there has been mandatory regulation of milk fortification with vitamin D. In Finland, mandatory liquid milk and margarine products have been fortified since 2003.

Climate indecisive factors

The reason why Finland is taking this measure is that vitamin D deficiency caused by relatively insufficient sunlight is particularly prevalent in the country. However, Euromonitor analyst Chmelik pointed out that countries with colder temperatures are not necessarily the largest Consumer countries. She said that cold regions have higher consumption of vitamin D, but in countries with warmer climates such as Egypt, Turkey and Greece, vitamin D is also welcomed by people.

After searching for foods and beverages launched around the world in recent years through the use of Mintel's "Global New Product Data" (GNDP), a market research organization, Latin America may be one of the hotspots for vitamin D growth. From 2005 to 2010 Between Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, more than 300 vitamin D products were launched, the vast majority of which were launched in 2009. Clearly, growth rates in different parts of the world seem to depend more on regulatory policies and on people’s vitamin D. Understanding, not climate.

In the future, with the gradual relaxation of regulatory policies in Europe and the beginning of the transformation of scientific evidence into consumer awareness, even RDI data may become even higher. The global vitamin D market seems to be expected to develop in a healthy manner in the future.