Annual retail sales of herbal dietary supplements in the U.S. totaled $15.551 billion in 2023, according to the American Botanical Council (ABC)’s 2023 Herb Market Report. Consumers spent $533 million more on herbal supplements than the year prior, representing a 4.4% increase in annual sales.
 
The 2023 market report is based on U.S. retail sales data provided by SPINS, a wellness-focused data technology company, and Nutrition Business Journal (NBJ), a publication of Informa/New Hope Natural Media. It was written by Tyler Smith, managing editor of HerbalGram, Carly Lang, media relations manager at SPINS, and Erika Craft, market research analyst at NBJ.
 
The sales figures for individual herbs and fungi discussed in the Herb Market Report reflect sales of dietary supplements in which the specific herb or fungus was a primary ingredient. It excludes the sales of most herbal teas, cosmetic products with botanical ingredients, and government-approved botanical drug ingredients in over-the-counter medicines.
 
NBJ sourced its sales figures from market research firms, company surveys, interviews with major retailers and industry experts, and other secondary materials. SPINS determined the sales of herbal supplements in two retail channels it tracks: the mainstream channel, which includes grocery stores, drug stores, and mass merchandisers; and the natural channel, which includes co-ops, associations, independent retailers, and large regional chains.
 
For the second consecutive year, the top-selling ingredient was psyllium, the seed and husk of which are used in products for cardiovascular and digestive health support. Among the 40 top-selling ingredients in the 2023 mainstream channel, beet root had the strongest sales growth of 108% from 2022. Six other ingredients which had sales inceases of greater than 20% included several ingredients commonly used for cognitive health (ginkgo, bacopa, and oat). The only three ingredients which had significant sales declines were ivy leaf, elderberry, and cannabidiol (CBD).
 
In the natural channel, turmeric ranked first in sales for the third year in a row, and SPINS reported that pain/inflammation and joint health were the top-selling health focuses of turmeric products sold in this channel. Barberry experienced the greatest sales growth in 2023, with sales nearly doubling from one year prior. Sales of this herb likely benefitted from the increased awareness and popularity of berberine, which trended on social media platforms for its purported weight loss benefits. In the natural channel, quercetin and elderberry were the only two ingredients that experienced sales declines of greater than 20%.
 
“After record-breaking sales of herbal supplements during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and the first drop in sales in nearly a decade in 2022, the return to annual sales growth in 2023 is remarkable,” said Smith, who has been the lead author of ABC’s annual Herb Market Reports since 2014. “After years of pandemic-related fluctuations, several signs point to a market that is continuing to normalize, including increased consumer spending on products marketed for healthy aging and the ongoing sales decline for some ingredients commonly used for immune health. For a market segment that has seen annual sales growth for most years since at least 2000, a return to ‘normal’ is clearly a welcome development.”
 
“The growth of herbal dietary supplement sales in 2023 indicates U.S. consumers’ continued continued interest in building and maintaining optimal health using plant- and fungi-based dietary supplements,” said Mark Blumenthal, founder and executive director of ABC. “With few exceptions, sales of herbal dietary supplements have been on a steady increase for the past 20 years, a trend that reflects a significant demographic movement, i.e., the growing commitment to natural health by millions of Americans.”
 
The 2023 Herb Market Report spans 15 pages in HerbalGram and features six main tables and a chart, including tables of total annual sales of herbal supplements in the U.S. from 2015 to 2021, and the 40 top-selling herbs in the U.S. mainstream and natural retail channels. It also includes detailed descriptions of SPINS and NBJ market channels, and tables of sales broken down by product type (single-herb supplements versus combination formulas) and retail channel (mass market; natural, health food, and specialty; and direct sales).