In A Bid To Live Healthier And Longer, Canadians Popping Pills In Record Numbers

Toronto, ON, May 19, 2000 -- We've become a nation of pill poppers, of sorts. Canadians looking for an edge in today's highly competitive world are turning to vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements to stay healthy, boost their performance, and enhance their looks. And maybe even live longer.

More than two-thirds (68 percent) of adult Canadians surveyed by the Angus Reid Group have taken some form of nutritional supplement in the past month which were purchased mostly in drug stores, but also health food retailers and supermarkets. They read about the nutritional supplements in magazines, newspapers, books and on the Internet as well as tapping pharmacy staff, friends and colleagues, and medical professionals for information. It is estimated that Canadians purchased $1.8 billion in vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements last year. Retailers anticipate that the market will grow by 20 percent a year. (For more results visit http://www.angusreid.com/media/content/pre_rel.cfm)

"We are looking at a niche market turned mainstream here,'' said Nancy Gabor, a healthcare analyst with the Angus Reid Group, which polled 1,501 consumers across the country in between February 27 and March 6, 2000.

``While vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements used to be highly optional and even suspect additions to a healthy diet, they are now taking a regular seat at the table in many Canadian households."

Nutritional supplement use was highest (72%) among the more affluent and well educated, those with household incomes above $60,000 and those with a university education. Sixty-one percent of those surveyed in households of $30,000 or less had taken at least one supplement in the past month.

Vitamins topped the list (used by 60% of Canadians). Twenty-eight percent had taken herbal supplements; 25 percent had opted for a mineral product.

Residents in British Columbia (80%), Alberta (74%) and Ontario (71%) reported the highest usage. In Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces about 60 percent of those surveyed had reached for a boost. Generally, women (72%) were more inclined than men (64%) to take a supplement.

"Canadians are looking for new sources of energy so they can tackle everything on their increasingly crowded agendas,'' Gabor says in the recent issue of The Angus Reid Report, the company's flagship public and consumer affairs magazine. "If they can look vibrant and more youthful at the same time, all the better."

Canadians also dread getting sick. Some 63 percent of users said they take supplements to avoid illness. They also don't believe they eat as nutritionally as they should (39%) because of time constraints. And 58 percent said they want to live a longer-than-average life. Are these supplements doing what people expect them to do?

"We don't know and they may not even know, for sure,'' says Gabor. ``But what is clear is that Canadians have developed a huge and growing appetite for these products based on a belief that they're worthwhile."

These are the findings of an Angus Reid poll conducted between February 27 and March 6, 2000. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 1,501 adult residents of Canada. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to 1996 Census data.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Nancy Gabor
Senior Research Manager
Health Care
Angus Reid Group
(416) 324-2900