UK Supplement Trends — March 2026: the functionals hold

Part of The Formulation Index, Supplement Factory’s monthly read on what UK brands are actually briefing us to make.

March was the month the market found its resting level for the year. The winter vitamins continued to ease, Vitamin C down to 30% and Vitamin B12 to 28%, while Magnesium and Calcium settled at the top around 41 to 43%. But beneath the normalising base, the functional actives that had built through the winter did not retreat, and that persistence is the real signal.

Ingredient in focus: Green Tea Extract

Green Tea Extract held at 23% of all quotes, part of a functional group, alongside Taurine at 21% and L-Theanine at 15%, that stayed strong even as the seasonal vitamins receded. Green Tea sits at a useful crossroads of the market: metabolism, energy and antioxidant claims all draw on it, which is why it has become a fixture rather than a fad. Its steadiness through a month of falling vitamins confirms what the winter suggested, that functional wellness has become a permanent layer of UK demand rather than a seasonal visitor.

What else moved

Taurine’s climb to 21% pointed ahead to the energy theme that would define the spring, while the mineral base stayed reassuringly solid. March had the feel of a market resetting its baseline: the seasonal noise of the New Year gone, the underlying structure clear.

What it means for brands

March’s message is that the functional layer is now part of the foundation. A modern UK formulation is no longer just a vitamin and mineral base; it increasingly carries a functional active, for metabolism, focus, energy or calm, as standard. If your product is still a plain multivitamin, the data suggests the market has moved on. The question for every brief now is which functional angle you build in, not whether you build one at all.

With the base reset and energy actives stirring, spring brought a clear tilt toward getting ready for summer.

The Formulation Index is built from Supplement Factory’s own formulation quotes, actives only, each ingredient counted once per quote. Explore the live Index →