Dietary supplements

Drug Store News,  May 20, 2002  

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The lingering effects of bad consumer press continued to take its toll on the natural health business in drug stores, particularly in the herbal segment. Lone exceptions to the rule continue to be the liver-detoxifying milk thistle and the PMS/menopause regulating black cohosh. Of the top 10 herbal supplement brands, only two-Nature Made and Estroven--returned positive results.

Although 2001 marked a year of continued upheaval in dietary supplements, condition-specific retailing still seems to be the driving force behind the category, as retailers slice up their dietary supplement sets by bone/joint, heart health and women's health.

On the supplier side, companies have been adding value to the category by reducing marginally performing SKUs. Leiner Health cut more than 3,000 products from its catalog-albeit many of those were duplicate products among its private label accounts. Weider has cut its SKU count by some 500 brands.

Vitamin and mineral performance (*)

Category/                  F/D/M            %  Drug store       %
segment                    sales (**)  change  sales (**)  change

Total multivitamins       $641.0         0.0%      $307.4    1.5%
Adult multivitamins        521.9         1.2        259.3    2.4
Children's multivitamins    92.5        -5.4         30.7   -4.8
Packs                       15.5       -18.3          7.3  -18.4
Antioxidants                14.1        17.8         10.1   19.0

Total single               493.6        -8.8        263.2   -9.3
letter vitamins

Vitamin E                  206.2       -11.2        111.0  -12.2
Vitamin C                  136.3       -10.5         66.1  -11.3
Vitamin B-complex           65.8        -4.8         34.9   -5.5
Vitamin B                   63.0         0.3         38.2    1.5
Vitamin A and D             22.3        -9.8         12.9  -11.0

Total minerals             377.2         1.3        220.1    1.4

Calcium                    266.6         1.8        147.2    1.1
Iron                        50.5         4.8         37.5    5.1
Zinc                        15.6       -10.8          8.7   -8.5
Magnesium                   12.8         2.3          8.2   -0.3
Potassium                    9.0        -2.9          4.4   -2.0
Chromium                     8.3        -9.8          4.4   -7.9
Selenium                     8.0        -7.7          4.4   -4.2

Source: Information Resources Inc. for the 52 weeks ended Feb. 3, 2002

(*)Items with F/D/M sales of more than $1 million

(**)Sales in millions
Herbal and non-herbal supplements (*)

Category/             F/D/M            %  Drug store            %
segment               sales (**)  change       sales (**)  change

Total                $330.1        21.1%      $183.2       -21.4%
herbal supplements
Ginkgo biloba          44.6       -35.4         23.5       -35.7
Echinacea              37.9       -21.2         19.9       -22.2
Garlic                 34.6       -16.5         18.3       -16.7
Ginseng                30.0       -33.5         16.5       -30.6
Soy                    27.6        -2.6         14.8        -2.0
Saw palmetto           24.3       -14.0         15.4       -13.0
St. John's wort        23.2       -40.2         11.8       -40.5
Valerian               11.2       -22.1          5.8       -25.2
Black cohosh root       9.9       110.0          5.7       111.9
Kava kava               9.0       -18.4          4.9       -16.8
Milk thistle            7.1        13.0          3.9         9.9
Evening primrose        5.7       -12.2          3.1       -16.7

Total non-herbal      741.4         6.8        290.8         3.5
supplements

Glucosamine           267.6         4.0        164.8        -0.4
and chondroitin
Co-Enzyme              32.0        11.7         19.9        14.0
and Q-10 Co-Enzyme
Amino acid             19.3         4.3         11.6       805.0
Melatonin              19.0       -13.0         12.1       -15.2
Fish oil/fatty acid    13.9        21.4          8.2        16.8
Gelatin                13.8       -13.3          5.4       -11.3
Acidophilus            10.6        10.4          6.3        10.2
Flax seed               9.0        45.5          4.6        38.3
Glucose                 6.3         5.9          5.3         6.8
DHEA                    5.9        -8.1          4.2        -1.6

Source: Information Resources Inc. for the 52 weeks ended Feb. 3, 2002

(*)Items with F/D/M sales of more than $1 million

(**)Sales in millions

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