Australians spend almost $3 billion a year on complementary therapies and vitamins, an amount similar to that spent on prescription medications, new figures suggest.
A population survey of more than 2000 individuals across the country found that 50% used complementary medicines, most frequently vitamin and mineral supplements.
The average expenditure for a person using complementary products was $87 a year on vitamin/mineral supplements, $11 on herbal medicine products and $7 on homeopathy products.
When extrapolated to the Australian population, the estimated national expenditure on complementary products was $2.96 billion, as compared to $3.0 billion for out of pocket expenses on prescription -only pharmaceuticals and $1.3 billion on over the counter medicines.
Within the complementary medicines, the estimated national expenditure was $2.14 billion on vitamin and mineral supplements, $277 million on herbal medicines and $174 on homeopathy.
Researchers from the School of Pharmacy at Sydney University, said their findings tallied with annual sales figures of $4.7 billion reported by the Complementary Medicine Association of Australia.