Children’s Chewable Vitamin Manufacturing Trends
For generations, parents have struggled with getting kids to eat their vegetables. These days, with all the fast-food “goodies” around, it’s even harder to get kids to eat a balanced meal. Parents are often stressed from the business of their own lives and find the convenience of take-out or fast-food as a suitable option. As a result, more parents are reverting to supplementation to compensate for the nutritional gap in their children’s diet. As a result, sales in children’s chewable vitamins and supplements have grown in recent years and continue to see upward trends. For example, according to SPINS, Inc. the sale of children’s chewable vitamins went up by 8.6 percent in the 1st Quarter 2009. As more health benefits associated with taking children’s chewable vitamins and supplements are made public, the demand for these products will surely increase.
Popular Delivery Forms For Children’s Chewable Vitamins
There are new theories that have substantial scientific support which indicate that many of the health challenges unique to our children’s generation are often related to a lack of nutrients in their diet. With research expanding on these issues, special formulations by supplement manufacturers are likely to be well-accepted. At present there are very limited nutraceuticals available for children with specific health challenges but we are beginning to see this change.
Important factors in children’s supplements are taste, delivery form, and generally a supplement that is fun to take! Bright colors and exciting shapes such as cartoon characters or super heroes make supplement taking a fun time which is a primary goal in manufacturing children’s vitamins!
In addition to being popular with kids and their parents, children’s chewable vitamins are also becoming popular with senior citizens that find it difficult to swallow tablets.
Popular Children’s Chewable Vitamin Manufacturing Options
According to a report in the February 2009 issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, approximately 34 percent of kids and teens between the ages of 2 to 17 are using vitamins and mineral supplements.
- In 2008, the American Academy of Pediatrics announced a new recommendation to increase the daily intake of Vitamin D for children from 200 IU to 400 IU. This optimum dosage is believed better able to support a child’s bone health and possibly lead to a greater ability to absorb calcium in later years of life. Doctors believe that this may even help support better joint and bone health in the senior years.
- Basic nutritional supplements for children have picked up in sales. Multi-vitamins, calcium and Vitamin C are the most popular. Trace minerals such as iodine and silicon have also been incorporated into basic multi-vitamin formulas.
- Probiotics for children is a fast-growing segment, especially as we see more research corroborating the fact that probiotics given at an early age may help to support overall health.
- Omega 3 fatty acids are supplements that parents choose for brain development, good bone development, vision, healthy skin, and hair growth.
- More parents are choosing all-natural wholefood supplements to make up for the lack of fruits and vegetables in their children’s diet. These can be developed in flavors which can be mixed with ice cream or milk shakes, used as dessert toppings or even eaten plain.
- These days, immune health is a hot topic and parents prefer to support their kids’ immunity by natural or herbal immune-supporting supplements.
In 2001, the children’s supplement market was worth $66 million, according to SPINS, Inc. Out of this figure, $15 million was attributed to the sale of natural children’s supplements alone. In 2008, according to the Nutrition Business Journal, the children’s supplements segment was worth $1 billion with major takers being multi-vitamins, omega 3s and probiotics. Trends are changing and there is more consumer demand to manufacture a broad spectrum of children’s chewable vitamins or children’s gummy vitamins.
Call one of our Production Specialists today to find out how you can manufacture chewable vitamins that have the potential to meet the nutritional needs of children today. You may also submit a request to receive a free quote from us through our website.