The healthy ageing stage has not remained static over the years and neither has the way products have been positioned towards consumers. The current narrative of healthy ageing is to focus more on increasing health span and reducing biological age, defining the term 60 is the new 40. Dr Palmer reinforced that the “products focusing on reducing the biological and environmental impact on biological age are getting more consumer attention.”
“products focusing on reducing the biological and environmental impact on biological age are getting more consumer attention.”
According to Prof Brownlee, many older consumers may fall in the demographic seeking to reduce their biological age. Developing new products and services targeted to this demographic of older consumers is something to look out for. He adds “this could be based on a better understanding on older adults’ quality of life for health-related products to approaches to ensure more prudent overall dietary habits (e.g., app-based approaches) and novel routes of food provisioning (pre-prepped ingredients to cook meals at home, as well as novel offerings for ready-to-eat products with more positive overall nutritional profiles).” Just like the retirement financial-services marketplace, the healthy ageing market is looking to create macro changes towards consumer behaviours and expectations, incentivising consumers to act now to improve the next 30 to 50 years of their lives. According to Dietz, “the efforts to promote ‘’ageing as a disease,’ elucidate the underlying causes of ageing and intervention strategies and demonstrate the macroeconomic benefits of addressing healthy ageing will slowly bring about the required infrastructural changes to cause a major shift in mindset.” The industry is at the forefront of this shift, so during the interim period, product offerings are positioned differently.
Nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) supplementation across a 12-week intervention period revealed the potential in preventing loss of physical performance and improving fatigue in older adults
Philippe also adds that “Consumers are becoming more attuned to the idea that if they put the proper habits into place when they are younger, they are better equipped for their senior years. Much of that change in perception is from the supplement industry widening its message to attract and speak to younger demographics, particularly those in their late 20s to late 30s who are thinking about starting families of their own.” Part of the reason for this need to reposition healthy ageing is followed by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Prof Eggersdorfer, “[healthy ageing] companies have responded and launched a variety of specific immunity products containing vitamin D, vitamin C, zinc, selenium and omega-3s.” Older consumers trust these healthy ageing products to support a well-functioning immune system and strengthen resilience. The healthy ageing market will most likely continue to evolve in the near future. With sustainability in mind, a greater focus of the industry is being placed on the area as evidenced by the implementation of the United Nation’s UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030): “A global collaboration, aligned with the last ten years of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), that brings together governments, civil society, international agencies, professionals, academia, the media, and the private sector to improve the lives of older people, their families, and the communities in which they live.” Highlighting the important considerations around the growing number of ageing populations which need to be addressed, Prof Brownlee refers to UN’s SDGs and emphasises the importance of “products and services being accessible to more deprived groups to ensure measurable impact and value of such products on either improving functionality or increasing the proportion of healthy life years.”
Prof Eggersdorfer predicts three dimensions impacting the future healthy ageing market. The first is to support the active elderly population who are seeking fitness and performance products. The second is to increase healthy ageing awareness among the middle-aged consumers about non-communicable diseases (NCDs), many of which originate during the forties to fifties age period. Prof Eggersdorfer explained that since the onset of NCDs is gradual over time, there may create opportunities for the nutraceutical industry to provide preventative interventions and dietary habits to reduce future health risks. Finally, he drew attention to “a call to action for nutritional interventions via solutions with micronutrients, omegas, probiotics in the age group above 70 years to reduce the share of ill-health years,” and concluded that “there is a recognised need for an effective, personalised, and scientifically based model for the assessment and evaluation of nutritional status in elderly. This model should include micronutrient status and will vary depending on genetic (and epigenetic) predisposition and dietary and medical history.” Cooper predicts that “someday soon, anti-ageing will not just be the domain of 50+-year-olds, but also for twenty-somethings as well. The ultimate expansion of the market is to all the disciples of a healthy lifestyle. The desired outcome of biohackers, organic eaters, weekend warriors and wellness explorers are to be healthy now and in the future—to defeat the legacy of bad environments, bad choices and bad genes.” Anti-ageing is a lifelong pursuit where typically the earlier you start the greater potential to alter the traditional trajectory of ageing.