The growing number and proportion of older people in the global population presents a wealth of opportunity for food, beverage, and supplement companies, according to Sagentia Innovation. Helping people stay healthier for longer will be paramount, with functional food supplements and nutritional interventions set to be a key aspect of the healthy longevity market.

Aging research has significantly advanced over recent years, particularly with the discovery that the rate of aging can be, to some extent, controlled. Increasing evidence suggests that lifestyle factors can have detrimental or beneficial impacts on aging at the individual level. This has sparked a wave of interest in geroprotective products and services for consumers including functional supplements, nutritional support and interventions, and lifestyle guidance.

Dr Tatiana Sergeenko, Principal Consultant at Sagentia Innovation, says: “Proactive self-care will be part of a wider shift towards measures which preserve health as people age. Better management of sleep, stress, and other lifestyle factors could play a vital role in healthy longevity. Targeted nutrition could also help in prolonging better health or delaying the onset of disease.”

Sergeenko recently authored a whitepaper exploring this topic in more detail. It summarises health issues associated with aging, including metabolic, cardiovascular, and gastrointestinal conditions, reduced mobility, mental health problems, and cognitive decline. She points out that scientists are more interested in biological age – the rate at which a person ages physically – than chronological age: “Although chronological age does reflect disease risk, the rate of aging varies across individuals, organs, tissues, and clinical conditions. Chronological age does not capture this variation well. On the other hand, when a person’s biological age far exceeds their chronological age, it may indicate more susceptibility to age-related health conditions. A lot of healthy longevity solutions look at closing this ‘age gap’ to maintain good health in older age.”

At present, commercial activity in healthy longevity broadly encompasses three categories: diagnostics (e.g., wearable devices, test kits, and apps for measuring, tracking, and quantifying biomarkers for biological age assessment/prediction), formulated treatment solutions (e.g., functional supplements, nutritional interventions), and support and recommendations for self-care (e.g., dietary and lifestyle guidance). Holistic healthy longevity solutions involve interplay between these categories. For instance, a nutrition-led service might involve postal test kits followed up with personalised supplement formulations or dietary and lifestyle recommendations.

As Sergeenko explains: “Healthy longevity is a fertile environment for new nutritional products and services. This opens an exciting new avenue of innovation for food and beverage companies, and it will be fascinating to see how the industry responds.”

Healthy aging and longevity: challenges and opportunities is available to download free of charge here.