Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1331851
32B January/February 2021 Tablets & Capsules 2 Looking back and moving forward in the nutraceutical industry Karina Basso Senior Editor dietary supplements In this article, industry leaders discuss the important chal- lenges their companies faced in 2020 and what to expect in the dietary supplement industry in 2021. 020 was a year of uncertainty and rapid change as the pandemic dominated the news, daily life, and industry— including the nutraceutical industry—worldwide. More than two in five dietary supplement users in the US have changed their supplement routines since the start of the pandemic, and 91 percent of those who changed their routines reported increasing their supplement intake, according to a COVID-19-focused consumer survey conducted by the Council for Responsible Nutrition [1]. The survey found that 57 percent of the consumers that had increased their supplement routine did so to increase their overall immune support. Additionally, the Financial Times reported that US dietary supplement sales were 16.7 percent higher in the four weeks leading up to July 11, 2020 than they had been during the same period in 2019, having risen as much as 51.2 percent in March as COVID-19 spread [2]. Recently, Tablets & Capsules asked several nutraceutical industry professionals about the challenges they faced in 2020, the opportunities of 2021, and COVID-19's impact on their businesses. What challenges did your company face in 2020, and how did you respond or adapt? Alex Bunting, marketing manager, I Holland: The pandemic changed the working landscape in all sectors of the nutraceutical industry, including tablet manufactur- ing. We quickly implemented a plan to protect our work- force that included changing working practices. We also reassured our customers and partners that we were, and