One of the latest product launches is Viactiv's multi-vitamin chews, aimed in particular at women with a hectic schedule.
"Given the demands of everyday life, getting the recommended daily amounts of essential vitamins and nutrients is often a challenge for most women," said Maureen Conway, director of nutritional affairs at McNeil Nutritionals and a registered dietitian. She added that a product that is easy to use: "can help women form the good habit of consistently taking a multi-vitamin."
The chews will be available in two flavors - milk chocolate and tropical fruit splash, "making large pills often associated with multi-vitamins a thing of the past," said the company.
Around 30-40 percent of US adults and children are said to have an aversion to swallowing pills.
There is growing consensus of the benefits of taking a daily multi-vitamin. Gail Montgomery, president of Vitamin Relief USA and CEO of Nutrition 21, told NutraIngredientsUSA recently that: "in an ideal world everybody would eat a balanced diet containing the right amount of nutrients, but even people who eat well have off-days and should therefore take a multi-vitamin to stay healthy".
This new product will be marketed by Fort Washington based company McNeil Nutritionals - a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson -, which last month introduced Benecol smart chews as an easy, convenient and tasty way to lower cholesterol levels.
They work to reduce cholesterol levels through plant sterol esters - each chew contains 0.85g of plant stanol esters and the company recommends that the consumer takes two to four chews per day with meals, along with a low saturated fat, low cholesterol diet, for best results.
Vitamin strips are also starting to take off as a convenient way for busy people to take supplements.
In an interview earlier this year, Walter Zackowitz, managing director of international sales at US premix company Watson Foods, predicted the real winner in this category would be energy-boosting strips because of their appeal to the hectic schedule of young people.
"Consumers of products like Red Bull tend to be young, innovative and keen to use convenient formats," he noted. "With strips you can dose yourself as often and when you like, they are easier to carry around than a can, and you meet the needs of people who have difficulty taking pills."