Less meat consumption: demand of vegan suppements increase

It's all visible in the shops and restaurants: vegetarian chicken, vegan hamburgers, people tend to have an increased preference for plant-based food. Or at least, to avoid meat. Apart from the environmental aspects of meat production, plant-based food has also shown health advantages. In the UK, an estimated number of 540,000 people is said to be vegan.

At the same time, it's visible that the industry is looking for more bioactive ingredients in supplements to make them work better. The industriy especially is looking into organic and sustainable sources for natural ingredients. This demand increases in the USA for an important factor but in Europe, in 2015, already an increase in demand of 15% was visible. Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Italy are named as the five countries leading the market for organic products in Europe. This gives opportunities.

When buying vitamins, minerals and supplements, 11% considers a vegan or vegetarian claim as an important criterium. Calcium and iron are named as important searched-for ingredients and these two are listed as the second and third supplements after cod liver oil. And in 2018, 6 out of 10 people in the UK took any form of a supplement. Women are higher consumers of vitamins, minerals and suppelents as 38% of women are taking supplements on a daily basis and less than 1 out of 3 men have this habit. Also interesting: more than 30% of the supplement users are taking vitamin D.

Interesting figures - especially considering that people want to be educated about the benefits and also about the sustainability and ingredient quality of supplements.