Consumption, in today’s world, does not simply involve the purchase of material commodities but also refers to obtaining and making use of symbolic goods such as health promotion. The exploration of new dietary products with or without medicinal properties has created a resurgence in health and nutrition research. These products often termed as Neutraceuticals, help in health promotion, provide physiological health benefits, and form a part of the daily diet (Dutta et al., 2018). The market here plays a huge role as a means of governmentality (Foucault, 1977) trying to govern the bodies of the laymen, turning consumers into docile, powerless, and passive objects. However, this passivity is challenged by the rise in information and communication technology today. With internet-based pharmacies and web-based outlets, supplements are directly supplied to the public based on their preferences. Advertisements in newspapers and magazines or video advertisements on television and social media also play a huge role in promoting dietary supplements among the masses and attracting them to choose a healthy lifestyle (Iye et al., 2021). This available health information and choice in their hands have transformed consumers into ‘reflexive consumers’ or ‘expert patients’. But what is important this reflexive nature remains finally controlled with market imperatives.

However, available sociological literature seems largely to neglect the role of other non-pharmaceutical products, used concurrently with or as alternatives to pharmaceuticals, in rousing performance consumption practices such as neutraceuticals. Rather it often focuses on the power of medicalization in the form of drugs, ensuring a dependent doctor-patient relationship, overpowering the increasing market of supplements. Most of the research available on dietary supplements is on developed countries like the United States, rarely focusing on developing countries like India. However, India’s market for dietary supplements has also increased rapidly.

The purpose of conducting this research is to understand the reasons for the increased consumption of various dietary supplements. These are mostly the attraction among the middle classes based on their differential demands. The goal is to find out the socio-economic factors responsible for the increased use of dietary supplements, their benefits and challenges. Direct selling companies using various individual employers and technological strategies for the increased awareness and usage of supplements among laymen. Supplements today, therefore, have created not only a vast market base but also attracted the masses to lead a definitive healthy life.

Using mixed methods research among consumers and health professionals, it is evidenced that the majority of consumers devour dietary supplements to correct the outer performance of the body rather than treat a disease. Globally in heterogeneous cultures, bodies are dichotomously depicted and ideally presented for males and females. Those falling outside of the pre-given gendered descriptions of body size and appearance are often in a challenging position. Such a presentation was further exemplified in the form of marketing used by the various dietary supplement brands to attract consumers. Supplement brands attract men and women by idealizing the “beauty standards”. In India like all other developed countries, due to the rise of fast lifestyle, demand for dietary supplements is on the increase (Banerjee 2018). Young people mostly of 20-30 years are going to the gym to tone their bodies externally highly demand for dietary supplements. People suffering from lifestyle disorders like obesity, type-II diabetes, and kidney or liver diseases are also buying dietary supplements available in pharmacies or online companies like Amazon, Flipkart, and 1MG. The commodification of self-performance was also expressed in the use of different substances for the management of other parts of the outer body. 18% of the women respondents claimed to consume supplements for physiological reasons such as nails and hair. Biotin supplements are the most popular in use for hair loss. While only 16% of men use supplements for muscle gain (as shown in Figure 1).

Figure-1

According to recent figures released by the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations (WFDSA), the direct selling industry in India has grown by 12.5% over the last year and stood at around INR 19,000 crores in 2021-22. As per the Survey conducted among Active Direct Sellers and Preferential Customers, the most preferred category was Wellness & Nutraceuticals [35%], followed by Clothing and Cosmetics & Personal care (22% and 11% respectively). These direct-selling companies use various marketing strategies to promote healthy living to the customers. Firstly, is celebrity endorsement. It creates a positive outlook toward brand preference and enhances loyalty among the targeted consumers. The presence of such endorsers often becomes a source of trustworthiness for a brand without becoming much aware of the unforeseen health effects that it can bring.

One of the interviewed Herbal Life agents, began speaking about the company, saying, “The best health supplement in the world is Herbal Life nutrition which is not only proven empirically but also is a daily life partner of various athletics. The brand ambassador of this nutrition is Christiano Ronaldo and Mary Kom.” Similarly, the face of Amway products is Amitabh Bachchan. Thus, celebrity endorsements are used as a way to persuade people of the veracity of the brand and its products.

Many people worldwide today not only use dietary supplements but also think dietary supplements, are safe. Most dietary supplements claim to efficiently treat diseases, and such claims have misled consumers into using dietary supplements for the treatment of diseases. It is ultimately the healthcare professionals especially physicians, nutritionists and pharmacists who tend to prescribe dietary supplements to their patients (Chiba, and Tanemura, 2022). Nutraceutical supplements are usually sold over the counter by chemists. However, the majority tend to rely on a prescription by a registered medical practitioner (Menon et al., 2021).

According to my survey out of 32 respondents, as Figure 2 shows, 41% intake supplements as prescribed by experts.

Figure-2

Such “patients’ passivity” as a result of dependence on the expert opinion for supplement usage makes their bodies socially controlled. However, this gets further elevated by information and communication technologies particularly, advertisements and social media. Such a development is perceived to affect the passivity of the patients in many ways. Today active awareness of patients towards their healthy bodies has made them “expert patients”, and “informed patients”. However, an active role may be seen to play in maintaining the self-performance of their body, largely they are still socially controlled by the experts and medical institutions. Endorsing self-care in the form of healthy living might expand the medical gaze (Foucault, 1977) into individuals’ daily lives, thus making them docile bodies, disempowered, or leading to medicalization in a broader sense.

References:

Banerjee, Swapan. (2018). Dietary Supplements Market in India is Rapidly Growing-An Overview. IMS Management Journal. 10(1).

Chiba, Tsuyoshi and Nanae Tanemura. (2022). Differences in the Perception of Dietary Supplements between Dietary Supplement/Medicine Users and Non-Users. Nutrients.14(19):4114.

Dutta, Sangita, Kazi Monjur Ali, Sandeep Kumar Dash and Biplab Giri. (2018). Role of Nutraceuticals on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention: A Review. Journal of Drug Delivery and Therapeutics. 8(4): 42-47.

Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of The Prison. New York: Vintage Books.

Iye, R., T. Okuhara, H. Okada, R. Yokota and T. Kiuchi (2021). A Content Analysis of Video Advertisements for Dietary Supplements in Japan. Healthcare. 9(6).

Menon, Anushka,  Mugdhali Sawant, Shivangi Mishra, Prachi Bhatia and Sejal Rathod. (2021). Awareness, Perception and Usage of Nutraceuticals in Indian Society. International Journal of Scientific Research in Science and Technology. 8:399-414.

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Aishwarya Chatterjee has completed her Master’s in Sociology from St. Xavier’s College (autonomous) Kolkata.