The healthcare market is ushering in a new round of growth

Affected by the implementation of the "New Ten" to optimize epidemic prevention and control measures in various places, in addition to the large increase in demand for antipyretic and analgesic drugs, the current consumer demand for health foods such as vitamin C tablets and protein powder in many families has soared, and some e-commerce platforms have even seen corresponding products out of stock
.

"Regardless of which vitamin receives special attention, we should not use it as a 'panacea' to defeat the virus, but as part of
a healthy lifestyle.
" Industry insiders said that the new crown epidemic has made consumers pay more attention to health, objectively promoting the development of
the health care industry.
It is expected that in the next 5 years, the industry will still maintain a good growth trend
.

The vitamin C buying craze swept through

In Taobao, Jingdong, Meituan, Kuaishou and other e-commerce platforms found that after Lianhua Qingwen, ibuprofen and other drugs were out of stock, Tomson By-Health, Kangbei, Northeast Pharmaceutical, Amway and other brands of vitamin C tablets and effervescent tablets also began to sell, some brands of vitamin C tablets show "sold out" or can only be pre-sold, and one of the brands of vitamin C tablets monthly sales of more than 100,000 pieces
.

On the Tmall vitamin hot sales list, a brand of vitamin C tablets occupied the top spot for many consecutive days, and the official flagship store showed that the product sold 100,000+ per month, but the product was pre-sold and shipped
within 7 days.
Searching for vitamin C products on Jingdong and Taobao found that the purchase pages of some brand products mostly showed a "pre-sale" or "out of stock" status, and some products showed that the order would be delayed or temporarily out of stock
in Beijing.
Some store customer service said that many customers buy several bottles and bottles, and the goods will arrive next month at the earliest
.
Some customer service said that vitamin C effervescent tablets are even more out of stock, and it is not sure when they will be available
.

A customer service staff of a brand flagship store said that at the beginning of the new crown epidemic at the end of 2019, there was a hot sale of vitamin C products, but there was no out-of-stock situation at that time
.
In the current special period, experts recommend that vitamin C should be supplemented, and many customers
who buy it in the store at once.
Although the purchase demand for vitamin C has increased significantly, the price of most products has not increased
at present.

Not only vitamin C health food is out of stock, but it is seen in Ali Health Pharmacy, because the price is cheaper, and some vitamin C over-the-counter drug products have also been sold out
.
Vitamin C has also been sold on live streaming e-commerce platforms such as Kuaishou
.
In the live broadcast room of a certain 10 million fans of Kuaishou, a vitamin C chewable tablet was priced at 128 yuan and 4 boxes, and more than 40,000 jumped orders were displayed at the moment of sale
.
Vitamin C products sold in the live broadcast rooms of other large and small anchors on the platform are also very popular, and the sales of single products in a live broadcast range from
hundreds to thousands of pieces.

Vitamin C cannot be supplemented blindly

Zhong Nanshan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Tong Zhaohui, vice president of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University, and other well-known experts have also suggested to the public that vitamin C can be supplemented after infection with the new crown to increase the body's defense ability and fight the virus
.

Whether vitamin C can prevent and treat the new crown has been controversial
.
A number of experts recommend that the public should take vitamin C in moderation, not more than 200 mg per day, during the infection, and must not overdose
.
"Supplementing vitamin C is best obtained from fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin C, and for drugs or nutritional products, you can eat less and eat
less.
" A respiratory and critical care doctor from the China-Japan Friendship Hospital explained
.

Vitamin C is an essential nutrient and is essentially an antioxidant
.
Scientific studies have shown that vitamin C participates in the synthesis of human immune proteins, regulating the body's immune response
by promoting the activity of white blood cells and phagocytes.
For people's daily intake of vitamin C, the EU recommends an average of 90 mg/day for men and 80 mg/day for women to maintain normal plasma levels in adults and prevent scurvy
.
A Swiss expert group in 2020 recommended that people over 65 years old should supplement 200 mg of vitamin C
daily after catching a cold or being invaded by a virus.

Guo Wei, deputy chief physician of the Department of Infectious Diseases of Tongji Hospital affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, pointed out that for people infected with the new crown, although vitamin C can enhance the body's immunity to a certain extent, it cannot "enhance immunity to the extent that it is enough to resist the new crown infection" in the short term, that is, vitamin C can neither prevent the new crown nor kill the virus, so it cannot replace the drug
for symptomatic treatment.
He reminded the public that vitamin C must not be taken blindly and in large quantities after infection, because it is acidic, and a large intake may disrupt the acid-base balance
in the body.
Also supplement with fresh fruits and vegetables whenever possible
.
"In short, you can make up a little properly, but there is no need to eat a lot of vitamin C
.
"

Wu Biao, director of the Department of Infection and Control and deputy director of the Infectious Disease Medical Center of Hainan Provincial People's Hospital, said that there is no clear evidence that taking a large amount of vitamin C has a preventive and curative effect
on new crown pneumonia.
Vitamin C is an essential nutrient for the human body, as a strong antioxidant and cofactor involved in the body's oxidative stress, immune regulation and organ protection, etc.
, has certain benefits for immune function, but it is not an antiviral drug and cannot directly suppress the new coronavirus
.

The function of vitamin C is mainly reflected in two aspects: one is to promote the phagocytosis of white blood cells in the body and strengthen the bactericidal ability of white blood cells; The second is to promote the formation of antibodies through antioxidant action and improve disease resistance
.
Vitamin C is also involved in collagen synthesis, which is beneficial to body repair
.
Therefore, during the new crown pneumonia epidemic, moderate vitamin C supplementation has certain benefits
.
Especially for people who usually have a unbalanced diet and insufficient intake of various nutrients, it is recommended to appropriately increase the intake of vitamin C, but they cannot eat
blindly.

Health consumption will continue to grow at a high rate

After experiencing the "Quanjian incident" and the new crown epidemic, since 2019, the national nutritional and health needs have ushered in another outbreak
.
Now affected by the changes in the epidemic, the health food market has seen another wave of stimulating sales growth
.

Zhou Shu, a strategic consultant of the pharmaceutical industry, believes that although the "Guidelines for Home Treatment of People with New Coronavirus Infection" has been issued to put forward the reference of common drugs, covering a large number of proprietary Chinese medicines, Western medicines, etc.
, but health care products, as an important supplement component of the medical system, under the new crown epidemic, not only vitamin C, but also other key nutritional supplement products consumer demand has also increased significantly, and will maintain a period of high market sales growth
.

Combined with Euromonitor forecast data and current industry development trends, consumer health food consumption psychology under short-term pressure in the past, and affected by the epidemic, it is expected that in the next five years, the growth rate of the domestic health food industry will remain at least about 4%, and the industry market size will be about 517.
8 billion yuan in 2026.

In European and American countries where the consumption of health food is more popular, the consumption growth brought about by the new crown epidemic is more prominent
.
Data show that in the US dietary supplement market, the main popular types of health food ingredients are: vitamin D, vitamin C, zinc, turmeric and so on
.
The fastest growing vitamin C in 2021 was 44% and vitamin D was 37%, both 2 times
higher than the average growth rate of the dietary supplement industry.

The change in the structure of health food consumer groups has also promoted the change
of sales mode to a certain extent.
The data shows that the direct sales model is still the main mode
of health food sales.
However, the e-commerce channel is the fastest growing channel, growing from 3.
4 billion yuan in 2011 to 25 billion yuan in 2015, with a compound annual growth rate of 65%.

Direct selling companies such as Amway, Baobao, and Infinitus are all undergoing digital transformation and upgrading
.

Senior health manager Cao Zheng reminds consumers that regular health food has a health food approval number and a health food logo "blue hat"
.
Counterfeit health food will not only disrupt the market order, damage the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, life and health, but also cause "bad money to drive out good money" and erode the living space
of law-abiding enterprises.

(Zhu Meiqiao comprehensive arrangement)

China Food News(Version 06, December 21, 2022)

(Responsible editor: Zhu Meiqiao)