January 18/Shelton, Conn./PRNewswire/ -- Women appear to be leaving the vitamin and nutritional Supplement category in significant numbers, according to TABS Group, a marketing research and consulting company based in Shelton, CT. In a study 1,000 respondents across the U.S. fielded by TNS and sponsored by TABS Group, 66% of Men and 66% of Women claimed to use Vitamins and Nutritional Supplements. While male incidence held steady vs. a similar study conducted by TABS Group in December 2005, the incidence of women represents a dramatic 13% drop during that period. The decline in usage was not completely broad-based, as the decline was isolated to just women in the 30-59 year old age range.

TABS Group founder and president, Kurt Jetta, commented on the findings of the survey, "The survey did not address specifically why so many left the market for nutritional supplements, however, we do find that they corroborate trends we have been tracking in the marketplace. Most notably, we've seen sluggish category trends, sharp declines in sales of women's supplements like soy and black cohosh, and declines in calcium sales, which skew heavily towards women concerned about osteoporosis."

Jetta added, "Additionally during this time, we have seen both retailers and manufacturers reduce their marketing and merchandising support behind the concept of women's nutrition. These results present compelling evidence that there is a significant category-wide cost to the reduction of this support. It appears that both women's herbs and calcium have strategic importance to this category beyond just the sales of those particular products."

From the January 21, 2008, Prepared Foods e-Flash