This issue includes a matrix of industry sales by product and sales channels (natural/health food stores, mass market, mail order, multilevel marketing and practitioner sales), a ranking of the top 50 supplement manufacturers/marketers by wholesale revenues, nutrition industry growth and revenue charts from 1994-2000, growth forecasts by channel and product categories, profiles of leading and fast-growing firms Leiner, Nutraceutical Intl, Pharmavite, Nutrition Now, Kettle Chips, Lundberg, Pacific Nutritionals, the top 5 homeopathic companies, Novogen and the monthly NBJ Stock Analysis.

The U.S. Nutrition Industry generated $25.8 billion in consumer sales in 1998, a 10% gain over the 1997 figure of $23.5 billion. Data charts and analysis are given for the Natural Foods, Dietary Supplements and Natural Personal Care markets. Growth rates for natural foods and supplements were in the double digits in 1998. In the $14-billion Dietary Supplement segment individual categories are examined in detail (vitamins, herbs & botanicals, minerals, sports nutrition & specialty supplements) with growth rates and forecasts provided. In the $8.7 billion Natural Foods segment, organic products led growth to reach $3.6 billion.

Fastest-Growing Channels

Practitioner sales led growth in 1998, followed by mail order (including internet sales ), mass market, natural supermarkets and health food stores with multilevel marketing posting the lowest growth. Natural product retailers are still the largest channel, followed by mass market retailers (% breakdowns and growth rates provided). In terms of total sales added in 1998, the natural retail channels still represented the largest gain at just over $1 billion, although mass was close behind at $800 million.

For many 1998 was simply a year for letting the good times roll.

However, "While the fundamental issues driving industry growth are unchanged, the extent to which the growth of the past few years is a phenomenon linked to the positive state of the economy is unclear," said Grant Ferrier, editor of NBJ. "Myriad consumer surveys invariably fail to capture this economic sensitivity."

"The U.S. nutrition industry will gradually take up more of the $480-billion food industry, the $110-billion pharmaceutical and OTC medicine industry and the $36-billion health & beauty care industry, but participants in these much larger industries won’t sit idly by and see marketshare erode," noted Ferrier. "The extent to which the nutrition industry stays distinct will be directly proportional to the degree to which natural products remain distinct to consumers and the degree to which mainstream industries subsume nutrition product benefits into their own products. Nutrition companies must not lose their edge in providing alternatives to this increasingly clued-in and research-rich mainstream."