Vitaco chief executive Sarah Kennedy says turnover has been growing despite the recession. Photo / Richard Robinson

Vitaco chief executive Sarah Kennedy says turnover has been growing despite the recession. Photo / Richard Robinson

"Your joints are very dry," tut-tutted the osteopath. "You should be taking glucosamine and chondroitin."

Until that day I had regarded health supplements as little better than expensive snake oil. But I had made an emergency dash to the practitioner with a crippling neck problem and I was willing to give anything a go.

After a couple of weeks of taking one capsule daily, my neck felt better than it had in years. I was a convert.

It is this kind of growing acceptance of dietary supplements as a means of treating chronic conditions or preventing illness that has seen the New Zealand bioactives sector, as it's termed, burgeon into a serious domestic and export business.

A recent report by consulting firm L.E.K. shows that in 2007 the sector reached annual revenues of $760 million. That was up from around $350 million in 2004, says Michelle Palmer, executive director of industry group Natural Products New Zealand, and means the industry is on track to achieving its target of $1 billion in revenue by 2013.

She says that at this size it begins to nip at the heels of the wine industry - expected to achieve $1 billion in exports this year - and is larger than the biotechnology and organics sectors put together.

Palmer says there is talk that in 2009 the industry may already be close to the magic $1 billion and so "I'm about to shift that target to become a $5 billion industry by 2025".

Vitaco Health, owner of the Healtheries and Nutralife brands, is confident enough in the industry's future that it has just invested $25 million in a state-of-the-art plant at its East Tamaki site. It was officially opened by the Prime Minister this week. Chief executive Sarah Kennedy says turnover has been growing at about 10 per cent a year. While not recession-proof, the sector has been "far less discrectionary than we thought it would be".

She believes there's an element of people wanting to take control of their lives in unsettled times. "It's, 'I can't afford to get sick, I don't want to go to the doctor, that's expensive'."

Ageing baby boomers wanting to keep a spring in their step are boosting consumption of products such as fish oil, which promotes mental acrity among other things, and joint treatments such as glucosamine. "To be unhealthy can destroy your retirement," Kennedy says.

Vitaco is a large producer and exporter of green lipped mussel products, an anti-inflammatory ingredient unique to New Zealand. The company turns over around $175 million a year and 60 per cent of its production is exported. It employs 50 people in Australia, its largest export market.