NEW DELHI: A majority of Indians are hooked to nutraceuticals like vitamins and immunity boosters, believing that they keep them safe from ailments and lifestyle diseases without consulting doctors, a survey said.
The consumers get the nutraceutical products from medical stores, general stores, and e-commerce platforms without any doctor’s prescription, said the survey conducted among 47,000 people in 318 districts of the country.
Highlighting that there is an unsupervised growth in demand and consumption of nutraceuticals, probiotics, and health supplements for medical purposes, the survey conducted by LocalCircles, a community social media platform, said 7 in 10 consumers confirmed taking some nutraceuticals.
The survey asked consumers whether they take any vitamin, mineral, fibre, omega, herbs, or other nutraceutical tablets daily. The response was on familiar lines. While 16 per cent said several of them, 30 per cent said “1 or 2”, and another 25 per cent said “on and off, and not regularly.”
The response was on familiar lines. While 16% said several of them, 30% said “1 or 2”, and another 25% said “on and off, and not regularly.”
“We found that 71 per cent of consumers are taking nutraceuticals (vitamin, mineral, fiber, omega, herbs & others) regularly,” said the survey.
The survey said that 63 per cent of consumers said they get these nutraceuticals — food or elements of food obtained from plant or animal origin with significant medical or health benefits mainly employed to prevent or cure diseases — from medical stores. Some said they get it from local general stores, e-commerce platforms, or ePharmacy platforms.
“On aggregate, 68 per cent of consumers who consume nutraceuticals say they buy them from local medical or general stores,” the survey added.
What was worrisome was that 69 per cent of consumers said they were taking some or all the nutraceuticals without a doctor’s prescription.
Less than one-third, or 31%, consume products prescribed by a qualified doctor, it added. About 78% of consumers surveyed said they want the government to cap the prices of these supplements.
Sachin Taparia, founder of LocalCircles, told this paper that the Foods Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) only looks into the quality of the products and not their usage or marketing.
Quoting this paper’s story that the health ministry is proposing to set up a committee headed by the Health Secretary to address overlapping concerns between nutraceuticals and drugs, he said as there is a rising demand for functional foods, which have specific health and medical benefits, the India plant-based nutraceutical market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15 per cent in the forecast period of 2022-2027, according to the expertmarketresearch.com.
The research company estimates that functional foods and drinks account for 60% and dietary supplements account for the balance of 40% of the nutraceutical market in the country.
However, many nutraceuticals available in the market, including imported products, are mislabelled on the contents and health benefit claims and also found to be deficient in quality standards, he added.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, in the parliament last year, had said that in 2022-23, over 40,000 cases were filed against the sale of unsafe protein powders and dietary supplements sold in the market as they did not meet the food safety standards.
Last year, FSSAI also issued an advisory to all the states regarding carrying out special enforcement drives to check the compliance of nutraceuticals and health supplements.