The State of Health Supplements Consumption in Malaysia

Abstract

The demand for health supplements (HS) has skyrocketed in Malaysia and around the world in recent years. The demand for supplements keeps rising as more people show an interest in maintaining their health. Vitamins, minerals, nutritional supplements, and herbal supplements (botanicals) are popular health items. These medications are available over the counter and often come in pills, powder, or liquid form. The endemic effect of COVID-19 anticipates that people will look outside of vaccines for HSs to support their body’s immune system. The study investigates the Malaysian public’s awareness, consumption, and perception or belief about HSs, especially the antecedents to the reason for consuming HS. Purposive sampling and snowball methods were used to solicit data from the Malaysian public by employing a self-administered questionnaire in this cross-sectional online survey. Note that 478 responses were received, but 418 were usable (yielding an 87.45% response rate). The key findings demonstrated a statistically significant chi-square where there are positive associations between the antecedents of Malaysians consuming HS, including country of origin, the Internet, liquid form of HS, and loss of body fat, with a strong magnitude of association. The findings in this study provide a valuable indicator for scientists, researchers, producers, sellers, and marketers to identify the marketability of their invented HS products.