Sports Nutrition Market Grows 10 Percent

Sports Nutrition Market Grows 10 Percent

SAN DIEGO--According to the Nutrition Business Journal's(NBJ) December report, consumers spent $4.7 billion in 1999 in the sportsnutrition market, which includes sports supplements (pills, powders andpre-mixed drinks), bars and beverages. This market enjoyed a 10-percent profitincrease, due mainly to nutrition bars, which grew 28 percent over the yearprior.

Through interviews with sports nutrition executives, surveys and primaryresearch, NBJ found that sports supplements alone accounted for $1.42billion in sales. The leader in this pack was protein powders, a $500 millionmarket. This was followed by $300 million worth of sales of thermogenic productscontaining ingredients such as ephedra, chromium picolinate and caffeine. Also,creatine supplements proved to be very profitable, ringing in $230 million insales. These are approximate figures, according to NBJ.

Much of the number-crunching comes from annual surveys conducted for NaturalFoods Merchandiser in order to figure out the top sports nutritioncompanies' sales figures. The Institute for International Research (IIR), whichgathers scanner data at the store level, is the usual service used to tracksales. However, IIR does not track the sports nutrition market.

The top 22 companies represented 90 percent of sports nutrition sales. RoyalNumico led the market with 18 percent, followed by companies including EAS,Weider, Nestle, PowerBar, Kraft Foods, Twinlab and Clif Bar. For additionalinformation, visit www.nutritionbusiness.com.