BLOG: A perspective on the eye nutrition market

Issue: July/August 2013

While statistics on consumer nutrient purchases are not necessarily in the realm of the eye care provider, it might be valuable information if you decide to make recommendations for supplements to your patients. Knowing what people’s attitudes are can give you some insight into the buying habits and their priorities, especially when it comes to health care decisions.

Among conditions that U.S. consumers are very/extremely concerned about, eye health ranks fourth; globally it is among the top five health concerns, according to the 2013 HealthFocus International Trend report.

Sales of eye health supplements reached $419 million in 2012, up 6% according to Nutrition Business Journal. Among the 59% of adults who are taking dietary supplements, 7% use a supplement for eye health, according to Multi-Sponsor Surveys’ 2011 Gallup Study of U.S. Eye Health.

In the mass market multivitamin category, eye supplements were second only to Centrum Silver and Flintstones as top sellers. Leader Bausch & Lomb’s PreserVision and Ocuvite brands posted food/drug/mass sales of $80 million for the year ended June 10, 2012, up 14% vs. 2011, according to IRI.

However, the biggest surprise may well lie with foods and beverages. While only 11% of grocery shoppers bought a food/beverage for eye health benefits last year, 77% strongly/somewhat agreed that eye health had an influence on their food purchase decisions, which is 29% above the average for condition-specific foods, according to Packaged Facts’ 2012 Targeted Health & Wellness Foods and Beverages.

Nearly half (49%) of adults are aware of nutrients that can be helpful in promoting eye health or preventing eye health problems. However, while 42% associated vitamins in general with eye health, only 23% cited vitamin A or beta carotene, 19% antioxidant vitamins, 19% B vitamins, 13% vitamin C, 13% lutein, and 11% omega-3s/fish oil or minerals, Gallup reported.
Those experiencing any eye disease or trying to reduce the risk of age-related diseases are significantly more likely to use eye health supplements, according to Gallup. With 107 million Americans now older than 50 years, products that help prevent age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and cataracts will have strong appeal.

With 40 million contact lens wearers in the U.S., preventing infection is an important new segment, as is night blindness, dry eye and computer eye strain. New 2012-2013 National Eye Institute findings revealed that targeting cholesterol buildup in the eye may slow age-related vision loss, that the immune system may play a central role in AMD and a sharp rise in diabetic eye disease, creating other high potential areas of opportunity.

Eye health is very important to 53% and important to 31% of Baby Boomers, more than double those concerned with osteoporosis, and 21% higher than cancer (Virginia Dare); 52% of Baby Boomers are interested in buying foods/drinks for eye health (Virginia Dare/Packaged Facts).
Eye health ranks eighth among parents’ health concerns for their kids; one in four children face some sort of eye/vision issue (HealthFocus).
Over the past 2 years, consumer awareness of specialty ingredients for eye health jumped 9%, 5% for lutein and only 1% for omega-3/fish oil and lycopene in 2012 (Gallup).
According to the NEI in 2012, 24.4 million people younger than 40 have cataracts; 7.7 million have diabetic retinopathy; 7 million are at substantial risk of AMD; 2.7 million have glaucoma; and 2.2 million younger than 50 have AMD.
Nine in 10 women younger than 35 are concerned their vision is getting worse as they age. Thirty-four million younger than 40 are nearsighted; 14 million are farsighted; and 143 million adults wear prescription eye wear (64%) (Johnson & Johnson/NIE).
“Doctor recommended” is an important package claim in the vision area; ophthalmologists are the most visited physicians by those 50 and older and represent a potentially strong practitioner sales sector (Packaged Facts, 2011).
The World Health Organization estimated that 269 million people worldwide suffer from vision impairment, excluding blindness.