HEALTH

BENICIA, Calif. — CytoSport on Tuesday launched Evolve, a naturally flavored protein shake that will serve as a complement to any woman's evolution toward a healthy lifestyle. Shaped by Muscle Milk, Evolve is the latest protein beverage innovation to hit CytoSport's portfolio. Available in early January 2013, Evolve can be found in the weight management or protein nutrition aisle at retailers nationwide.

NEW YORK — A recent survey commissioned by Dannon found that 68% of consumers believe certain probiotics help regulate the digestive system, yet one-third of Americans agree that they don’t get enough probiotics in their average daily diets.

That suggests an upside for an already hot category — sales of probiotics were up 16.2% across all channels to $232 million for the 52 weeks ended Oct. 28, according to SymphonyIRI Group data.

NEW YORK — Pet supplements represent a new mostly untapped market opportunity for the OTC section in the retail pharmacy setting. Consumers spent an estimated $52.9 billion last year on their pets, up 3.7% as compared with 2011 actual sales, according to the American Pet Products Association.

At least half of consumers cite prior use (58%), in-store browsing (54%) and pharmacist’s recommendations (50%) as the most commonly reported methods used to select an OTC remedy, according to an online survey of more than 900 AccentHealth viewers conducted in September 2012. And 4-out-of-5 respondents indicated that their OTC remedies are easy to find.

HORSHAM, Pa. — Symphony Health Solutions on Tuesday named Frank Lavelle CEO.  

SALT LAKE CITY — Zarbee's on Tuesday noted that more consumers have gravitated toward natural solutions over allopathic medicines, at least through the end of December, citing Nielsen scan data. 

For the 12 weeks ended Dec. 31, supplemental immune system boosters and homeopathic cough and cold medicines were up 13%, Zarbee's reported. The trend is even more pronounced across children's remedies with allopathic medicines declining 15% in the 12 week period while sales of pediatric natural solutions were up 19%, and now make up more than 20% of the category. 

PARAMUS, N.J. — Inergetics will be breathing new life into diet aid brands Bikini Ready and SlimTrim, the company noted on Monday. Those are two brands the company recently acquired from Whole Products Group that will be the focus of presentations at the ECRM Vitamin, Diet & Sports Nutrition conference being held in San Antonio this week. 

With sleep aids rising from the floor level shelf across several analgesic planograms, the category that features several dietary supplement players is becoming more prominent. Sales of melatonin, the natural ingredient most often associated with calming and sleep, were up 35.8% to $123.9 million for the 52 weeks ended Oct. 28, according to SymphonyIRI Group across its total U.S. multi-outlet data set.