Introduction
Demand for food supplements in Malaysia is growing, consistent with global trends. This is due to an increased awareness of personal health and well-being, as well as a shift in eating habits.
The main reason for food supplement intakes is to boost up the energy and satisfy the nutritional balance in the body. Food supplements contain one or more dietary ingredients, such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbs and botanicals, and these products can be found in many forms, such as tablets, capsules, pills, liquids, and powders.
Food Supplements Intake Reason.
A balanced nutritional intake is important, however, in a busy everyday situation people fail to meet their need for a balanced diet. Thus, taking food supplements is due to the following reasons.
- Prevent Disease or Boost Immunity
- Overcome malnutrition
- Improving Lifestyle & Wellbeing
- Beauty Enhancer Purpose
- An alternatives way for medicine intake
- Natural, safe supplements without adverse effects
- promised to be Youth, health and vitality
- Energy Booster
Target Market
In the Food Supplement industry, you must understand your target market. So, you can customize the nutritional intake for each group to make it benefit for them. Consumers may be grouped in one of the following categories.
- Group 1: Older People
- Group 2: Pregnant women
- Group 3: Individual with health problems
- Group 4: People who fail to eat a balance food
- Group 5: Sports people
- Group 6: General people
Malaysian Food & Dietary Supplements Choose.
Then, based on current study, the following are the most popular choices of dietary supplements among Malaysians.
- Vitamin C (38.4%)
- Multivitamin–mineral (25.9%)
- Fish oil (22.7%)
- Green tea (18.8%)
- Garlic pills (11.4%).
Consumer Demographic
Looking at the demographics of the consumers, female is the most likely to take food supplements in their daily lives than male. This is due to; female have more inspired to maintain and improve their health than male.
In addition, the older people are also a group that takes a lot of dietary supplements. This could be because, as people get older, they tend to become diagnosed with health problems. They develop the perception that their bodies do not receive enough nutrients and, believes that dietary supplements are capable of protecting them to against disease.
In conclusion, the acceptance of nutritional supplements among Malaysians is on the rise. Malaysians prefer to take nutritional supplements rather than taking drugs. Getting involved with the OEM food supplement industry is the right choice. It’s just that you need to understand your particular target market. This article has discussed in general segmented groups that need to be considered when developing a food supplement and most popular choices of dietary supplements among Malaysians.
REFFERENCE:
(1) Mohd Ashri, M., Abu Saad, H., & Adznam, S. (2021). Socio-Demographic Characteristics, Body Weight Status and Energy Intake among Users and Non-Users of Dietary Supplements among Government Employees in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Nutrients, 13(7), 2248. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13072248
(2) Abdul Aziz, N., Mohamed Shafii, N., Azizam, N., & Dzulkiply, M. (2020). Influencing Factors in Dietary Supplement Consumption among University Students. ADVANCES IN BUSINESS RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, 6(1), 96. https://doi.org/10.24191/abrij.v6i1.9945
(3) Ferlito, C., Bellavite, P., & Weerasena, B. (2021). Dietary Supplements in the Malaysian Context: Policy Recommendations for Enhancing Freedom of Choice and Healthcare Savings. Research Gate. Retrieved 14 October 2022, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352373854_Dietary_Supplements_in_the_Malaysian_Context_Policy_Recommendations_for_Enhancing_Freedom_of_Choice_and_Healthcare_Savings.
