Functional ingredients in healthy aging products

It’s no secret—people around the world are living longer. But as the marketplace of products targeted at the healthy aging segment matures, ingredient suppliers and manufacturers of cosmeceuticals with functional components are homing in on consumers’ desire for products that can add to the quality, and not simply the quantity, of their lives.

Pressed oils rich in fatty acids, plant sterols and natural antioxidants. Pure aloe, formulated for topicals or trendy ingestible delivery formats, and laden with polysaccharides with proven effects on overall health and wellness. A ribose-vitamin compound that can help negate factors associated with skin aging. Resveratrol, collagen and keratin formulated for both topical and ingestible deliveries, carrying the promise of youthful beauty, both inside and out.

These types of functional ingredients—applied across myriad delivery formats including serums, creams, moisturizers, dietary supplements, and even foods and beverages—attract product makers looking to capture a piece of the burgeoning global population of folks 60 or older, which totaled 987 million in 2017 and is expected to double by 2050, according to the United Nations report, “World Population Prospects.”

Nutraceuticals are emerging as a class of functional ingredients with specific application to the healthy aging segment, as health benefits derived from food sources beyond their nutritive value are beginning to be more completely understood.

Deficiencies in vitamins E, B6 and B9 (folate), and the minerals zinc and selenium are particularly common, according to Zeeshan Sirkhot, media team member with Persistence Market Research, and deficits of these micronutrients have been reported to negatively influence immunity.14 Nutraceutical products can improve micronutrient status, and the regular use of nutraceuticals by the elderly may provide an opportunity to enhance immunity.

To read this article in its entirety, check out the Healthy aging: Outward vitality – digital magazine.