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Consumers take dietary supplements out of habit

Consumers are adopting a “better safe than sorry” approach to taking dietary supplements without knowing if they are making any difference to their health.

New research published this week by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) found that many consumers acknowledge that they take supplements as a force of habit – some are even cynical about their effectiveness – but because they are viewed as being fairly benign, they believe it is better to be safe than sorry.

A survey found that just 18% of people sampled had never taken any supplements while 48% currently take supplements and vitamins on a regular basis.

Most respondents said they take day-to-day supplements to maintain or improve their overall health and give them a boost, or to replace lost nutrients due to diet, age or a health condition.

The majority of shoppers buy from mainstream retailers and said they would avoid buying from unknown online retailers due to fears about provenance and adulteration.

Young people are most influenced in their choice of supplements by social media while older people are more likely to get information from traditional media.

The FSA found that consumers assume that the market is regulated and have few concerns about the safety of food supplements as long as they continue to buy from reputable retailers and take supplements responsibly.

The FSA commissioned the research to improve its understanding of both mainstream and niche food supplement consumption in order to inform the development of policy in this area.