Media

Association to conduct two territory-wide telephone surveys in 2008 and 2014. The study was designed to measure the knowledge of the general public about health supplements in Hong Kong. The target respondents were Hong Kong residents aged 18 or above. The previous survey conducted in September 2008 acts as the baseline for comparison with this survey in August 2014. Fieldwork took place between August 7 and August 29, 2014 through telephone survey, and a total of 1,053 successful interviews was achieved. The response rate was 70.2%. The objectives of this survey are to understand the general public's health food intake and opinion about nutrition labels.

Behavior of health food intake

This survey observes that about 44.7% of the respondents took a health food supplement during the six months prior to the survey. Those with monthly household income above $20,000 were more likely to take a health food supplement during the six months prior to the survey. Compared to the previous survey in 2008, a higher proportion of respondents took a health food supplement during the six months prior to the survey. Regarding the type of health food supplement the respondents took, the most common type of health food supplement that they took was vitamins or minerals (44.0%), followed by proprietary Chinese supplements (22.5%), omega series (17.8%) and western herbs and other (15.7%). The most common benefits of the health food supplement they took was "Better health" (29.5%) and "Bone and Joint" (25.1%), while 10.6% and 8.6% of respondents reported that the benefits were "No benefits" and "Don't know" respectively. Projected to the adult resident population of Hong Kong, there are 2,783,000 adults who took a health food supplement during the six months prior to the survey in Hong Kong.

Channels to obtain and average spending on health food supplements

In terms of health food supplement purchasing, more than three fifths (35.4%) of the respondents reported that they purchased vitamins or materials during the six months prior to the survey, followed by proprietary Chinese supplements (19.8%), omega series (15.1%) and western herbs and other (14.0%). Among those types of health food supplement which respondents purchased in the previous four weeks, spending on proprietary Chinese supplements was highest, with average monthly spending of of $667.2, followed by western herbs and other ($406.7), omega series ($396.8) and vitamins or minerals ($390.2). Among those respondents who purchased health food supplements during six months prior to the survey, most of them purchased from chain-stories, relatively fewer respondents purchased from a pharmacy or through direct selling. Based on the reported purchases of health supplements in this survey, Hong Kong spent $19 billion to purchase health supplements per year, which is an increase of about 90% compared to $10 billion in 2008 from the previous survey. Increase in the Consumer Price Index [1] and the number of adults who use health supplements [2] increase explain some of the increase in spending.

Opinion about "1+7" nutrition labelling scheme

Over half (51.7%) of respondents reported that the "1+7" nutrition labelling scheme currently used in Hong Kong can help them choose a suitable health supplement. But at the same time, there are 51.4% of respondents who reported that "1+7" nutrition labelling scheme cannot accurately reflect the benefits of the health supplement and only one fifth (20.9%) of respondents changed their decision to purchase due to "1+7" nutrition labelling scheme.

Opinion about regulate health supplements and conventional food separately
Over nine tenths (93.8%) of respondents agree that government should regulate health supplements and conventional food separately. When compared to the previous survey in 2008, a higher proportion of respondents reported that they strongly agree in this year survey. For the suggestion of establishing a different labelling scheme, more than three tenths (31.7%) of respondents stated that "Ingredients" is needed, other information includes "Indications" (19.0%) and "Potential side effects" (14.0%), etc.

Notes:
[1] CPI increase 20% from 2008 to 2014.
[2] No of adult intake health supplement increase 37% from 2008 to 2014.

Please click here for the presentation powerpoints.

For media enquiries, please contact Mr. Danny Chan of HKU Social Sciences Research Centre at tel: 3917 1604, or e-mail: danny100@hku.hk.