Americans' Take on Nutritional and Dietary Supplements

With a continuing focus on healthier lifestyles and choices, nutritional and dietary supplements are capturing consumer attention and pocketbooks. As compared to last year, American consumers are increasingly likely to consider themselves regular users of such products.

More than two-thirds of Americans (68%) say that they take nutritional or dietary supplements over the course of a year. This includes vitamins, minerals, herbals/ botanicals, sports nutrition supplements or specialty supplements. In fact, 52% say that they take supplements regularly, with another 16% saying they take supplements either occasionally (13%) or seasonally (3%). This is up from 46% found in a similar study from last year. Looking at non-users, 12% of Americans say they have taken nutritional or dietary supplements in the past but no longer do so, while 20% say they do not take supplements and never have.

Most Americans are confident in the safety, quality and effectiveness of dietary supplements overall. Eighty percent say they are either very confident (30%) or somewhat confident (50%), while just 13% say they are not too confident and 7% are not at all confident.

When asked directly, 84% of Americans agree that they believe that vitamin and mineral supplements are safe. Twenty-four percent agree strongly, with the remainder agreeing somewhat. Just 16% disagree, and only 4% disagree strongly.

Americans were also asked to name who they trust to provide reliable information on dietary supplements. The most common choice for Americans by far is a doctor (MD, DO, Naturopath, etc), with 68% giving this response. The next most common choices are a pharmacist (40%), a nutritionist (30%), friends or family (27%), a dietician (23%), and then information found on websites (21%).

These are just some of the findings from an online survey conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN). Between August 12th and August 17th, 2007, Ipsos conducted an omnibus online survey of 2,140 U.S. adults, all aged 18 and older. The study has a 95 percent confidence level that the results of the survey are accurate to within +/- 2.1 percent.

For more information, please contact:

Chris Deeney Senior Vice-President Ipsos Public Affairs (312) 665-0551 [email protected]