Vitamin K2 use: awareness continues to grow, states new consumer survey

Consumer supplement survey validates K2 sales growth, identifying younger demographics seeking core benefits and focusing on branded ingredients

The Industry Transparency Center (ITC) has announced a new survey of 3500 dietary supplement consumers.

The “ITC Insights – 2022 Supplement Consumer Survey” was conducted by Dynata from 1–26 March 2022 and was written and analysed by the Industry Transparency Center.

The breakdown of supplement consumers included 1000 from the US, 1000 from China, 500 from the UK, 500 from Germany and 500 from Italy. Participants identifying as female represented 52% of respondents, whereas men represented 48% of respondents. Ages ranged from 18 to 65+ years.

Key findings from the survey included the following:

• 63% reported: “I am proactive about my health and take steps to lower health risks,” whereas 76% said: “I use/have used vitamins, minerals, herbs or other dietary supplements to help manage my health.”
• 62% reported using vitamin K2 supplements, ranking in the top 10 ingredients used.
• the 18–54 age group brackets showed an increase in usage of vitamin K2 compared with those 55+.
• no single supplement increased usage across every country; however, vitamin K2 was one of the closest to achieving universal growth. K2 also saw a sharp increase in use from 2020-2022.
• the “perceived effectiveness” of K2 was greater in total supplement users surveyed compared to “regular users.” This suggests to the researchers that future growth is likely as people who do not currently use vitamin K2 regularly have a high perception of it.
• for supplement users of branded ingredients, “Quality,” “Safety,” “Trust,” “Efficacy,” and “Clinical Validation” ranked as the top 5 reasons for use.
• bone health and heart health ranked as the top reasons for using vitamin K2, especially for regular users, whereas irregular users noted various reasons including “bioavailability of other supplements.”
• brain health and mental acuity also ranked relatively high and have a low gap between irregular and regular users. Researchers believe this partially confirms “the earlier hypothesis of potential opportunities in this area.”

“This survey confirms what we see commercially in many ways. Consumers have a high trust and interest in vitamin K2, especially those looking for specific health benefits,” according to Xavier Berger, Global Market Manager with Gnosis by Lesaffre.

“It is also nice to see that ‘quality,’ ‘efficacy’ (i.e., proof that it works), and ‘safety’ are recognized in the branded ingredients. MenaQ7 is a standout Vitamin K2 in this regard, as it is the only K2 as MK-7 with clinical validation confirming bone and cardiovascular benefits.”

Interestingly, 37% of regular users responded that they always look for branded ingredients and are willing to pay a premium, with an additional 22% looking for them but not willing to pay a premium. While nearly 60% of vitamin K2 users are looking for branded ingredients, products utilising these premium materials represent a competitive edge.

Berger added: “Very interesting is that 67% of consumers said they look for a specific vitamin K2 brand while purchasing their supplements, and our two brands – MenaQ7 K2 as MK-7 and vitaMK7 – are in the top 3 brands most sought out.”

The General Criteria for Participation included supplement users and qualification questions that corrected for participants who proclaimed they were "not a user" in questioning.

Companies

• Gnosis by Lesaffre