Consumers bought fewer herbal supplements - such as St. John's wort and echinicea - last year than they did a few years ago, when sales experienced double-digit growth, a new nutrition industry sales analysis says.

Sales of herbal supplements grew only 1.5 percent in 2000, reports Nutrition Business Journal, a newsletter and market research firm based in San Diego that monitors supplement and vitamin sales.

Sales Sagged, But Still Significant

Their growth has slowed significantly since 1997, when sales rose 17 percent and from 1998, when they increased 12 percent.

Herbal supplement sales still are big business, though. Americans spent $4.13 billion on all herbal supplement sales in 2000, with $248 million on top-seller gingko biloba, a product that presumably improves memory.

They shelled out $210 million on echinacea, for its alleged immune boosting fighting ability; another $174 million on garlic, for its supposed infection-fighting properties; and $170 on St. John's wort, the so-called natural antidepressant.

Evidence about the value of these products has been mixed.

Annette Dickinson, vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs of the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a supplement trade group, agrees with the findings of the survey. She says the industry is maturing and growth is slowing.

"No industry can expect double-digit sales to go on forever," Dickinson says. The vitamin industry, she says, only has a 3 percent to 4 percent growth rate.

Too High Expectations

Nutrition Business Journal research director Patrick Rea attributes falling sales to the lack of a blockbuster product bringing consumers to the retail outlets as they did when St. John's wort hit the shelves in 1997 and 1998.

Manufacturers, he says, also have not done a good job educating the consumer about what to expect from these products. People believe the products will work quickly and give up when they don't.

"People move on imperfect information," he says. "They hear news and don't do enough research to understand how the products may work."

Companies need to educate consumers about how the different products may have their effects, Rea says. "Consumers expected a magic bullet," Dickinson agrees. "But the products don't all work the same way."

Negative publicity about the products also has contributed to decreased sales.

Negative Publicity

Reports of products not having the active ingredients advertised on the label turned consumers off, says Dickinson. To regain confidence, manufacturers are moving to get their products certified by third parties, such as the U.S. Pharmocopeia, a nonprofit group that sets drug standards, and NSF International, a nonprofit group that develops health standards.

Finally, studies questioning the effectiveness of products also contribute to changing attitudes towards the supplements. A study in the April 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, for example, showed St. John's wort does not seem to help depressed patients.

　　From Healthy.net