January 2024
Daily multivitamin supplementation is one of the most prevalent forms of dietary supplementation worldwide, yet motivations for use, brand selection criteria, ingredient awareness, and perceived effectiveness vary substantially between users and across products. Understanding these factors is important for characterising the current landscape of consumer supplement behaviour, identifying knowledge gaps, and evaluating where existing products succeed or fall short of users’ expectations. This study describes the prevalence, patterns, motivations, and effectiveness perceptions of daily multivitamin use across a large sample of adults. The survey was conducted by DR.VEGAN®, January 2024.
A cross-sectional online survey was administered to 651 adults. Individual-level response data were available for all analyses. The survey captured multivitamin use status; current brand; age; gender; diet type; additional supplement use and health goals; reasons for starting a multivitamin; brand selection drivers; duration and form of use; dosing frequency and timing; ingredients label and additive awareness; overall effectiveness for wellbeing; domain-specific effectiveness across twelve health areas (immunity, hair, nails, skin, brain fog, concentration, energy, moods, digestion, sleep, joints, and anxiety); time to perceive benefit; comparison with previously used products; value for money; felt difference when not taken; perceived protective role; previously used brands; and reasons for discontinuing past products.
Of 651 respondents, 52.7% (n=343) took a daily multivitamin. Among takers, the sample was predominantly female (74.0%, n=253) and aged 45–54 (43.6%). Dietary profiles reflected a health-engaged population: 21.1% vegan, 13.5% vegetarian, and 8.3% flexitarian, alongside 41.2% omnivorous. The most common brands were DR.VEGAN (47.8%), followed by Boots (6.2%), Holland & Barrett (5.5%), Wellwoman (3.8%), and supermarket own brands (3.1%).
Of 270 respondents who answered this question, the primary motivation was improving overall wellbeing (60.7%), followed by filling dietary gaps (41.5%), having more energy (34.8%), protection against infections and colds (31.9%), vegan or vegetarian dietary requirements (26.7%), better hair, skin, and nails (24.8%), and improved focus and concentration (19.3%). Mood improvement (18.9%), better sleep (18.5%), and improved digestion (18.1%) were also commonly cited, reflecting the breadth of expectations placed on a single supplement.
84.9% of multivitamin users took at least one additional supplement alongside their multivitamin, with the most common supplementary goals being hair, skin, and nails (31.0%), mental health (30.3%), PMS (25.8%), heart health (23.2%), eyes (20.7%), energy (17.0%), and thyroid health (13.7%). This widespread supplementation beyond the multivitamin reflects both the perceived limitations of a single product and the multi-domain nature of the population’s health concerns.
The most common drivers of product choice were existing purchases from the brand (35.2%), Google searches (14.8%), media articles (10.4%), friend recommendations (13.0%), social media advertising (9.3%), and nutritionist recommendations (4.8%). Word of mouth and active research thus drove the majority of decisions, with formal healthcare professional recommendations playing a smaller role.
70.0% had been taking a multivitamin for more than one year, with 9.6% for as long as they could remember. Capsules were the dominant form (67.0%), followed by tablets (25.9%) and gummies (3.7%). 76.7% took their multivitamin every day all year round, with 20.0% taking it most days. 74.1% took it in the morning. These usage patterns indicate a predominantly habitual and committed supplementation behaviour.
72.2% had read the ingredients list on their current multivitamin. However, additive awareness was more mixed: 40.7% had never checked their product for unnecessary additives (such as titanium dioxide, talc, or magnesium stearate) because they did not know what to look for, 9.6% had checked and found their product did contain some such additives; and 47.0% had checked and confirmed their product contained none. The significant proportion who are both unable to evaluate and, in some cases, unknowingly consuming potentially unnecessary additives represents a meaningful consumer education gap.
Of 267 multivitamin users who rated their product, 94.4% (n=252) gave a combined positive rating for overall wellbeing (extremely effective: 12.7%, very effective: 33.7%, somewhat effective: 47.9%). The combined negative rate was 5.6%. The highly positive rate (extremely + very effective) was 46.4%. 53.2% reported feeling noticeably different when they had not taken their multivitamin for a few days, and 65.6% believed their multivitamin protected them when their diet was less healthy.
Effectiveness varied considerably across health domains. Immunity achieved the highest combined positive rating (70.1%), followed by energy (57.1%), skin (52.4%), nails (48.0%), hair (47.6%), moods (45.7%), concentration (43.7%), digestion (41.3%), brain fog (40.6%), sleep (36.6%), and anxiety (33.1%). Sleep and anxiety were the domains where multivitamins were most frequently rated as not effective, suggesting these areas represent the greatest unmet need within current formulations.
Of 254 respondents, 70.1% noticed benefit within four weeks of starting their current multivitamin: 3.5% within a week, 18.1% within 1–2 weeks, 20.5% within 2–3 weeks, and 28.0% within 3–4 weeks. A meaningful proportion required longer: 14.6% noticed benefit at 5–8 weeks and 15.4% after eight or more weeks.
Of 250 respondents, 43.2% rated their current multivitamin as more effective than previous products (26.4% much more, 16.8% a little more). 81.6% considered their current product to represent value for money. Among the 187 respondents who had stopped a previous brand, the most common reasons were cost (35.8%), the product not working (27.3%), the presence of unnecessary additives (18.7%), missing the right ingredients (18.2%), and poor value for money (9.1%). Switching driven by cost and inefficacy points to the consumer priorities most likely to determine long-term brand loyalty.
Based on user-reported outcomes, this survey of 651 adults documents that daily multivitamin use is widespread and habitual, driven primarily by goals of general wellbeing, energy, and dietary gap-filling, often within a population that is already health-engaged and multi-supplementing. Overall perceived effectiveness is high (94.4% combined positive), but domain-specific effectiveness varies considerably: immunity, energy, and skin are best served, while sleep and anxiety represent the weakest areas of benefit. Ingredient and additive awareness, while improving, remains incomplete, over 40% do not know what to look for when checking for additives. Switching behaviour is driven by inefficacy, cost, and additive concerns, pointing to the consumer priorities most likely to determine long-term loyalty. These findings provide a comprehensive benchmark against which to evaluate specific multivitamin products.
Keywords: multivitamin, dietary supplement, wellbeing, energy, immunity, ingredient awareness, additives, consumer behaviour, effectiveness, daily supplementation
Survey date: 2024 | Total respondents: N = 651 | Multivitamin users: N = 343 | Data: Individual-level responses
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