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Supplements: the new trend

Supplements: the new trend

In my kitchen cupboard, right next to the coffee and the biscuits, sits a tub of magnesium I’ve been using for a few months now, bought more out of professional curiosity than any bodybuilding ambition. I’m not the only one: in recent years the powders and capsules that once stayed behind in gym lockers have turned up everywhere, from students’ backpacks to the bags of people heading to the office. The trend comes with precise numbers, both in Italy and worldwide, and it deserves to be told by separating what research actually confirms from what remains pure advertising promise.

The supplement market: numbers from Italy and beyond

In 2023 the turnover of dietary supplements in Italy reached 4.09 billion euros across pharmacies, drugstores and other sales channels, according to data from Unione Italiana Food and Federsalus. The sector generated 4.6 billion euros in national GDP and supports more than 51,000 full-time jobs, with a female workforce share close to 50%, well above the country’s employment average. The Federsalus Observatory also reports growth of nearly 9% year over year and roughly 183 million packages sold annually, 92% of them through pharmacies. As the Observatory itself puts it, supplements are now a mass-consumption product.

Globally the expansion is even more striking. According to Grand View Research, the creatine business is worth about 1.4 billion dollars in 2025 and should climb to 1.7 billion in 2026, with projections reaching 8.7 billion by 2033 (a compound annual growth rate of 26.2%). In the United States, creatine sales in the general retail channel rose 71.9% over the 52 weeks ending in November 2025. Protein powder, for its part, is worth roughly 19 billion dollars in 2025 and could reach 33.4 billion by 2035, according to GMI Insights.

Who used to buy these products, who buys them now

Until recently the target audience was narrow: competitive athletes, weightlifting enthusiasts, regular CrossFit goers. Today that profile has widened considerably. New creatine buyers include women using it for muscular strength, adults over sixty (studies cover an age range from 20 to 76) and simply curious people drawn by its supposed cognitive support. Protein has won over different populations too: older adults trying to preserve muscle mass, patients recovering from surgery, teenagers influenced by fitness content on social media. To reach this broader audience, new formats have appeared for anyone who isn’t fond of classic powders: ready-to-drink shots, chewable gummies, bars.

Normalization has come mostly through social media. Trends tied to the “gymtok” world have turned the locker-room routine into everyday entertainment, not unlike what already happened with other health topics that went viral among younger audiences, from the vaping phenomenon to the wellness habits Gen Z rediscovers by looking at their grandmothers.

What the science actually confirms

Some benefits hold up well. Creatine’s effect on strength and muscle mass is backed by decades of research and isn’t challenged by any recent review. A meta-analysis published in Frontiers in Nutrition also found positive, though limited, effects on memory and processing speed, more pronounced among women and in people with specific clinical conditions. Protein powder genuinely helps preserve muscle in older adults and in people recovering from surgery: a use far removed from gym shelves, yet resting on solid clinical ground. General wellbeing, for that matter, often comes down to daily habits built with patience, as we explored when discussing the importance of wellness at work.

The promises that don’t hold up as well

Other claims find far less support. The same meta-analysis mentioned above dismisses the idea of creatine as a universal cognitive booster: no significant effect emerged on executive function or overall cognition. Collagen fares even worse: a review of 23 randomized trials found that studies supporting its skin benefits tended to be lower quality and funded by the very companies selling it. Biologically, ingested collagen gets broken down during digestion before it can reach the dermis or epidermis, so it never arrives where the advertising promises it will. Marine-derived versions also carry a mercury contamination risk that rarely shows up on the label.

The new stack: magnesium, omega-3s and targeted probiotics

Alongside these two long-standing protagonists, an entire ecosystem of smaller substances is growing. Magnesium glycinate has gone viral as a sleep remedy, drawing about a million monthly searches online and 22% annual growth. Interest in omega-3s has jumped 308%, while electrolyte powders, originally made for endurance athletes, now get mixed into water by people who spend their day in front of a screen and just want to stay hydrated. Even gut health has entered everyday conversation: the probiotic strain Akkermansia muciniphila alone racks up 6.1 million monthly searches, a sign that people are choosing specific strains rather than generic live cultures. According to several industry analyses, the average consumer has stopped buying a single product and instead builds a personalized combination, paying growing attention to ingredient traceability and third-party testing. Not everything sticks, though: the most extreme biohacking substances, like methylene blue, have seen search interest drop by 75%, a sign that current trends reward what’s established over frontier experiments.

Between market data and meta-analyses, a fairly clear line emerges: some products do exactly what they promise, others rely mostly on storytelling. My tub of magnesium, in the end, will stay right there between the coffee and the biscuits: I’ll keep using it knowing what to expect, and leave the rest to the slogans.

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Chiara Bonifazi