Trust. Trust is key in the consumer universe. How many products do you purchase that you have zero confidence in? With the myriad of negative news stories surrounding supplements, NBJ decided to ask the general population how they felt about supplements. The results were not very favorable for the industry. Thirty-one percent of consumer stated that they have never trusted supplements, with an additional 6 percent of consumers indicating that they no longer trust supplements. While this appears bad enough, an additional 10 percent of consumers indicated that they trust supplements less than two years ago.

Are these declines and complete void of trust the worst news, or is it the fact that only 9 percent of consumers surveyed indicated that they fully trust supplements? Whatever your opinion on that question is, it is clear that supplements will need to work on building trust with the consumer, for without trust sales can only go so far.