While there have been many advancements in the space of healthy ageing, challenges continue to persist when trying to prolong healthspan. Dr Palmer noted three major categories affecting biological ageing which include genetics, biological, and environmental (lifestyle) considerations. These are the main focus of healthy ageing products and services available in the market. In terms of research, Dr Miller identified the challenge of “executing verifiable, credible clinical trials on ingredients and moving on from simple, single-ingredient products to more complex and synergistic combination products.” He also identified consumer education as a difficult task due to disinformation rules, scepticism of science, and social media influencers potentially impacting trust. According to Caillat, the COVID-19 pandemic has created further challenges when trying to initiate and complete clinical trials due to, for example, participants’ dropout rates and researchers’ limited ability and capacity of data analyses post-trials.
Another key challenge in healthy ageing, highlighted by Iain Brownlee, associate professor at Northumbria University, is “ensuring products and services do not end up widening health inequalities.” He also comments on the research aspect stating that “evidencing health claims related to maintenance of health could be even more challenging than evidencing improvement in health outcomes from a study design and duration perspective.” Looking at market opportunities, Dr Ghosh draws attention to the difficulties dealing with different consumer needs and demands for healthy ageing solutions. For example, different geographical markets such as Asia and western countries have varied perspectives on the healthy ageing market and, therefore, different product needs. Dr Ghosh highlighted that companies “need to consider that the same size doesn’t fit all,” and for Asian consumers, for instance, products combining ingredients with “hints of spiritualism like Yoga or Tai Chi” might optimise commercial opportunities within Asian markets. Dr Ghosh continues to share that there are opportunities for “country-specific clinical trials, to engage with local healthcare professionals for product advocacy, and to identify and explore new, innovative ingredients rather than century-old ingredients.” Mackinnon agrees there is an opportunity to capitalise on rising consumer expectations for scientifically supported, natural, and sustainably sourced ingredients. She says that “opportunities exist for quality, holistic products that target both inner health and the visible signs of ageing. Mackinnon further predicts that “transparency and provenance of ingredients will become increasingly important.”
An antioxidant-rich diet improves healthy ageing and decreases cardiovascular and respiratory diseases’ mortality rates among the Singaporean Chinese population
Prof Brownlee identifies the opportunity to develop products that target improved cognition and sleep quality as measurable physiological outcomes aligned with healthy ageing. He specifies the “potential for development of proprietary blends and isolation of novel saccharides that target health outcomes (whether microbially-mediated or otherwise). Additionally, “inactive microbes (versus live cultures) as bioactives also have the potential for wider food and nutraceutical applications targeting a range of possible benefits.” Looking at industry whitespace, product personalisation and information remain to be explored in context to healthy ageing. Dietz outlines that "With new understandings around the requirements to tailor individual health and constant monitoring as opposed to batch testing, information feedback loops must be reduced in time […] much of the targeted healthy ageing nutrition market is pioneering novel processes with expensive manufacturing processes leading to high end-consumer pricing. Whitespace remains for quality-sourced and tested ingredient supply chains that provide the ingredients as advertised while reducing cost for the end consumer.”