Magnesium mania: Wellness startups ride the mineral wave, but doctors urge caution

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. For wellness and pharmaceutical startups in India, the magnesium craze is proving to be a magic elixir, even as doctors advise caution.

Healthcare platform Tata 1mg, online vitamins and supplements store HealthKart, pain relief and muscle recovery brand Hoop, and nutritional products startup Wellbeing Nutrition have been ramping up their lineup of magnesium products over the past year to meet growing demand. The mineral crucial in manufacturing products such as mobile phones and fireworks is also a key dietary requirement for humans—an awareness that’s only recently been catching up with zinc.

The rapid growth in the market for magnesium supplements—gummies, capsules, lotions, and creams—is not due to a sudden rise in magnesium deficiency but to growing awareness about the mineral, startup executives and medical practitioners told Mint. “Given a lot of international chatter about these minerals becoming the most critical things of how your body works, there’s been a major surge in demand," said Avnish Chabbria, founder of Wellbeing Nutrition, adding that the mineral addresses urban lifestyle issues such as lack of sleep, stress, muscle cramps, fatigue, and irritability.

Wellbeing Nutrition’s triple magnesium complex supplement that was launched about seven months ago already contributes 10-15% of its overall revenue, said Chabbria. The startup, which also sells a zinc supplement, did not share its sales numbers but said it expects its retail business to grow by 2.5 times to ₹50 crore and its online business to jump 3 times to ₹130 crore in 2025-26.

The five-year-old Wellbeing Nutrition is also expanding its line of magnesium products to include bath salts, lotions, and creams. Also