Article

The 5 Most Registered Health Supplement in Malaysia (2021)

Manfye Goh

Mar 31, 2022 . 10 min read

Have you ever wondered about the effect of the pandemic on the trend of health supplement products in Malaysia just like I do? or is there any emerging trend of health supplement products in these few years? These questions were in my mind as a pharmacist. It gets my interest to dig into these pieces of information to see what happens in these few years. I hope you enjoy the article too!

This article will list the top 5 most registered active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) in the health supplement category in the year 2021. The ranking is based on the number of product types registered. The active ingredient may be registered as a stand-alone product or registered in combination.

In this article, the health supplement is differentiated by the (API) it contains in the products. It can appear in a different type of dosage form such as powder, capsule, tablet but ultimately it is referred to as the same API.

Which type of health supplement is most registered in Malaysia for 2022?

1. Ascorbic Acid as Vitamin C

Ingredient Profile 1: click here

Ingredient Profile 2: click here

Number of products registered in 2021: 118 (102+16)

Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate) is a water-soluble vitamin found in citrus and other fruits and vegetables. Vitamin C is an essential nutrient involved in the repair of tissue, the formation of collagen, and is important for immune system function. It is also famous for its antioxidant functions.

There are multiple naming of Ascorbic acid in the database, but commonly it is known as "Ascorbic Acid Vitamin C" or "Vitamin C Ascorbic Acid". Vitamin C is ranked as the top 1 registered product throughout the overall registration health supplement product in Malaysia. The number of vitamin C products registered rose from 19 products per year in 2012 to 118 products per year in 2021. a total of 520% increment in the registration!

It is noticed that the number of vitamin C products increased from 66 in the year 2019 to 99 in 2020 and continues to increase with 102 products registered in 2021. It might be due to the increased demand for vitamin C to strengthen immunity during the pandemic.

From the product registered list, we have seen the reason for so many products available is due to there are multiple forms and dosages in vitamin C products. For example, chewable tablets, powder form, effervescent tablets, or different types of flavors. It is also can appear as a mixed formula such as collagen plus vitamin c or multivitamin formula

Besides ascorbic acid, Vitamin C also appears as the name such as Ascorbyl palmitate, Sodium ascorbate, Magnesium ascorbate, and Ascorbyl palmitate

2. Vitamin D3 Cholecalciferol

Ingredient Profile: click here

Number of products registered in 2021: 83

Cholecalciferol is a type of vitamin D that is made by the skin when exposed to sunlight; it is also found in some foods and can be taken as a dietary supplement. It’s typically used to treat people who have a vitamin D deficiency or a related disorder, such as rickets or osteomalacia.

Vitamin D3 Cholecalciferol starts to have significant registration in 2017, previously it was registered under various terms such as D3, Vitamin D3, but the number is very less. The number of registration continues to increase since 2017 to 83 products registered in the year 2021, a 380% increase in the number. It quickly becomes a dominant product type in the market with the rank of Top 6 overall.

A quick search in Google Trend can see that the interest in vitamin D3 worldwide increases over time with a larger increase in interest in mid-2016. this is correlated with the spike in vitamin D3 products in the year 2017.

From the statistic, vitamin D3 shows a huge spike in product registration in 2021, an increase of 57 products in 2020 to 83 products in 2021 (45% increment). which might be due to the positive association between vitamin D3 and covid 19 survival rate. This can be observed too in the google trend where there is a significant spike in interest in vitamin D3 in Jan and Aug 2021

3. Pyridoxine Hydrochloride

Ingredient Profile: click here

Number of products registered in 2021: 55

Vitamin B6 or pyridoxine is important for normal brain development and for keeping the nervous system and immune system healthy. It is also needed for the proper function of sugars, fats, and proteins in the body.

There are multiple naming of pyridoxine in the database, but commonly it is known as "Pyridoxine Hydrochloride". Pyridoxine is ranked as the top 2 API in the overall health supplement category in Malaysia but remains ranked 3 API in the year 2021 due to a surge in vitamin D3 products registration. The number of pyridoxine containing products registered rose from 8 products per year in 2012 to 55 products per year in 2021. a total of 580% increment in the registration!

Pyridoxine rarely appears as a stand-alone product in Malaysia, the most common form is as a Multivitamin or B-complex form. It acts mostly as a supplementary active ingredient to the main product, for example, Zinc plus and Iron plus. That explains why this API is abundant in the registration.

4. Fish Oil

Ingredient Profile: click here

Number of products registered in 2021: 39

The amazing fish oil is gold in color, nice to pinch, smell nice, and full of omega 3 fatty acid that claims to be good for blood pressure and blood-related diseases.

It seems like fish oil is also a household product that every brand must have (besides vitamin C). It ranked in the top 3 in overall health supplement products and ranked top 4 most registered in 2021. The number of fish oil products rose from 9 products per year in 2012 to 39 products per year in 2021. a total of 330% increment in the registration.

Most fish oils appear as a stand-alone product, some come in combination, and most of the dosage form is soft gel. One point to highlight is that most of the fish oil in the market is produced by similar manufacturers.

5. Lactobacillus Rhamnosus

Ingredient Profile: click here

Number of products registered in 2021: 35

Lactobacillus Rhamnosus is a type of bacteria found in your intestines. It belongs to the genus Lactobacillus which produces lactase enzymes. This enzyme breaks down the sugar lactose into lactic acid. In terms of health supplements, these bacteria are commonly labeled probiotics. Probiotics refer to live microorganisms promoted with claims that they provide health benefits when consumed, generally by improving or restoring the gut flora.

Together with its cousin, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Both ranked top 5 and 6 most registered ingredients in the health supplements category. The number of lactobacillus Rhamnosus products rose from 2 products per year in 2012 to 35 products per year in 2021. a total of 1650% increment in the registration!

Commonly, these bacteria are packed together and labeled as the probiotic product in the market, this explains why both bacteria can have a similar trend in the database. It is more commonly taken in a mixture of probiotics products.

Probiotic products are seen as an emerging trend in health supplement products in recent years. If you feel you are always heard of probiotic terms in recent years, yes it is. The interest in probiotics worldwide is at an all-time high in the google trends, people are talking about probiotics around the world, searching for them on google. In my opinion, the total number of probiotics in the market isn't as high as household products like vitamin C or vitamin B complex, it is foreseen that the number of probiotics products registered will continue to increase in the next 5 years until every brand will have their own probiotic products.

Final Thought

In my opinion, probiotic is an emerging trend if you see the trend of the lactobacillus products registered in these few years. On the other hand, Personally, I feel that the pandemic does further increase the appearance of vitamin D3 products in the market that is already on the increasing trend.

Vitamin C, Fish oil, and pyridoxine continue to become the household product that every brand wants to make and want to have. I wonder when will it be saturated? I would like to do an in-depth analysis on one of them in near future, I think it will be very very interesting.

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Thank you very much ❤️

References:

1. Wikipedia

2. AIpharm ingredient page

3. Pexels.com [Image References]

4. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-02701-5