Nestlé Skin Health Partnership to Address Growing Skin Health Needs

11 Dec 2014 --- By 2020, for the first time, more than 1 billion people will be over the age of sixty. By 2020, for the first time, more than 1 billion people will be over the age of sixty. They will need help and support for healthy active ageing. Central to this will be good skin health. Anticipating the importance of this area to consumers, Nestlé announced in February the creation of Nestlé Skin Health.

Building on the company’s strength as a nutrition, health and wellness company, the new wholly-owned subsidiary is focused on meeting the increased need for a broad range of innovative products to help people maintain skin health throughout their life.

Longer lifespans will mean good skin care will become more important if we are to extend a good quality of life to those of all ages.

One of the most common problems of ageing is intense dryness of the skin, a medical condition known as xerosis.

Nearly everyone over the age of sixty suffers to a greater or a lesser extent from dry skin.

When your skin becomes dry and cracked, bacteria and germs can enter the body more easily.

This can lead to severe medical conditions such as bacterial and fungal infections of the skin, skinfolds and nails.

Skin cancer is also an issue. According to the World Health Organisation, one in three cancers diagnosed is a skin cancer.

Each year there are more new cases of skin cancer diagnosed than of breast, prostate, lung and colon cancers combined.

There will be an economic imperative to maintaining skin health too.

“Only by improving our health as we age, will we be able to harness the potential of the 21st century’s silver economy,” says Michael Hodin, Executive Director of the Global Coalition on Ageing (GCOA).

"Only by improving our health as we age, will we be able to harness the potential of the 21st century’s silver economy" Michael Hodin, Executive Director of the Global Coalition on Ageing

The GCOA works with industry, global policymakers and others to ensure that societies have in place the right policies and support structures for robust, healthy ageing.

Nestlé Skin Health, a member of the GCOA, is partnering with the organisation to pioneer a new kind of ‘innovation hub’ where scientists, healthcare professionals and other experts can meet to share information about the latest developments in skin healthcare.

Combining different technologies and practices should help deliver innovative solutions for skin health issues.

“We are creating an eco-system in which solutions and information can be developed to facilitate better maintenance, prevention, diagnosis and treatment strategies that will help people today and in the future enjoy improved well-being through a life course of healthy skin” says Humberto C. Antunes, Chief Executive of Nestlé Skin Health.

“This will enable healthy and active ageing, benefitting individuals and society as a whole.”

The new facilities will be known as Nestlé Skin Health Investigation, Education and Longevity Development (SHIELD) centres.

The first centre will be opened in New York in 2015 with others to follow around the globe.