It is not only the narcissists that take vitamins! Baby Boomers - sure. But they are also used by the health conscious and atheletes..

Interestingly enough, my anecdotal experience is that the supplement side of things, which is what athletes are most into, hasn't done all that well through the recession. A friend of mine manages a vitamin/supplement store and his sales have been in the toilet since the recession began. As he describes it, many of his best customers who were buying hundreds of dollars of supplements per month have cut back to maybe buying a single tub of protein. This would only make sense, given that supplements are very much a luxury item and the costs do add up in a hurry.