Unlocking healthy aging ingredients for joint, skin and eye health

18 Apr 2024 --- Consumers are increasingly seeking innovative solutions to maintain their vitality as they mature. Nutrition Insight sits down with key industry experts from ADM, Gnosis by Lesaffre, IFF Health, Lonza Capsules & Health Ingredients, Kaneka Probiotics and Unibar to explore the latest trends and products offering joint, skin, and eye support for healthy aging.

“According to the WHO, the global population over 60 is set to double by 2050. This is about 2.1 billion people or 20% of the worldwide population. This puts healthy aging at the forefront of many consumers’ minds and is one of the fastest-growing condition-specific categories,” Sevanti Mehta, president of the Unibar Corporation, tells us.

“At a broader level, the leading reasons why many consumers take dietary supplements include joint pain and vision,” he adds.

Juliana Erickson, senior category marketing manager at Lonza Capsules & Health Ingredients, concurs: “In the healthy aging segment, there is a significant trend: a stronger focus on mobility. A growing number of consumers are seeking solutions to maintain their active lifestyles as they age. This trend is fueled by a surge in interest in mobility across diverse age groups, including younger consumers.”

Meanwhile, Paula Limena, VP of global marketing for health and wellness at ADM, argues that the healthy aging sector is not exclusive to aging or senior adults. “Consumers throughout generations are adopting more holistic approaches, particularly in skin care, with younger generations recognizing the importance of starting early when considering their long-term well-being.”

Maintaining mobility 
Gnosis by Lesaffre’s product manager for SAMe (S-adenosyl-L-methionine), Lorena Carboni, outlines the multifaceted benefits of SAMe for healthy aging, including the promotion and maintenance of healthy joints. “SAMe can work through tissue-healing properties. It may help relieve associated pain and discomfort, improving function and the range of motion of the affected joints.”

Experts note a significant trend in the healthy aging segment: a stronger focus on mobility.“In a double-blind clinical trial of SAMe, the morning stiffness, pain at rest, pain in motion, crepitus, swelling and limitation of motion of the affected joints were assessed before and after treatment, with an improvement of the total score obtained. SAMe administration exerted a symptomatic effect that was clinically beneficial in patients with osteoarthritis,” she details.

“A prospective comparative study evaluated the effectiveness of the palliative nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, etoricoxib therapy, against therapy with SAMe. The patients included in the SAMe treatment group significantly exceeded the etoricoxib treatment group regarding disease severity based on osteoarthritis outcome score, with a net improvement after three months of therapy.” 

Benjamin Milhau, regional marketing lead for EMEA at IFF Health, points to a different solution to the same issue that often comes with age. “Joint health is a leading category and is addressed with chondroitin, glucosamine, and more recently, collagen. More recently, we have seen an uptick in solutions that address longevity or ‘anti-aging,’ leveraging powerful ingredients supporting cellular and mitochondrial health; for example, Urolithin A.”

“Within the supplement market, healthy aging consists largely of benefits targeting the mature and senior demographic to support them in managing health conditions related to the aging process,” he adds.

Lonza Capsules & Health Ingredients’ Erickson similarly points to collagen as a key joint aging support: “When it comes to creating a standout mobility solution, ingredient choice is key. While there are numerous mobility-related ingredients available — collagen emerges as the top choice for active consumers.” 

Discussing the opportunities and challenges for joint and mobility support products in the healthy aging space, she states that the demand for solutions for younger, active consumers has opened up a sweet spot in the market for brands to tap into. 

“There is also an opportunity for growth in the collagen market due to a current lack of consumer familiarity with the diverse types of collagen and their benefits. For example, our research shows that 21% of younger consumers claim to be ‘not at all familiar’ with collagen and its associated health benefits. This underscores the potential for brands to step in and offer valuable education within the collagen market.” 

Collagen for healthy aging
Erickson underscores that Lonza Capsules and Health Ingredients continues to explore opportunities, challenges and applications for collagen products in the healthy aging market. 

“In the context of joint health, products containing collagen are among the fastest-growing in the supplement market today. Moreover, what’s also exciting is that younger consumers are already somewhat familiar with collagen and its associated benefits.”

“However, it’s important to note that while collagen products are gaining popularity in the healthy aging space, not all collagens are created equal,” Erickson continues. “Type II collagen, the major protein in cartilage, is typically available in two forms, hydrolyzed collagen peptides and undenatured type II collagen.”

She argues that undenatured type II collagen, like Lonza’s UC-II undenatured type II collagen, is the most effective form of type II collagen because it has a truly preserved structure, enabling its mechanism of action that signals the body’s immune system to build joint cartilage.

Collagen and gut health probiotics are highlighted as key “beauty from within” supplement products in the healthy aging space.“UC-II undenatured type II collagen is one of the most researched brands of undenatured type II collagen on the market. It has clinical data for young, healthy and active consumers, as well as older consumers. Our clinical research, for example, shows that the ingredient improves joint flexibility 15 times better than placebo—making joints feel significantly younger.” 

Ageless beauty from within 
While experts point to the benefits of collagen for mobility and joint health, another well-known result of ensuring sufficient dietary collagen supplementation is enhanced skin flexibility that is associated with a youthful look. ADM’s Limena comments: “Emerging now are collagen supplements for skin elasticity.” 

She further points to other alternative solutions for healthy-looking skin with age. “Skin health is also an important indicator of healthy aging. We have developed two probiotic formulations — AD Formulation and Smooth Skin Formulation – which have shown the potential to support different aspects of skin health.”

“Probiotic solutions like these can help consumers take immediate steps to address their skin care needs for the long-term,” Limena asserts.

Similarly, discussing the opportunities or challenges for products in the space, Jordi Riera, the chief business officer at Kaneka Probiotics, argues: “Today, probiotics are generally well accepted and known by consumers. However, there is significant potential to leverage the wide-ranging benefits of probiotics to provide targeted solutions that support healthy aging in distinct population groups across various aspects of well-being.”

“Pioneering studies are now focusing on how specific probiotic strains can affect the gut-brain axis and achieve targeted effects beyond the gut to support various health areas that may be impacted by aging such as skin health.” 

Ingredient companies have the opportunity to educate and create more awareness around the maintenance of eye health with age.Vision and eye support 
Mehta highlights healthy eyes as one of the most important aspects of healthy aging that can be addressed with Unibar’s products. “When it comes to vision health, many are familiar with some of the drastic conditions, such as macular degeneration, cataracts and glaucoma.”

“However, some of the more common day-to-day aspects of aging that affect the eyes include difficulty seeing at night, dry eyes, glare sensitivity and decreased blue-light absorption,” he outlines. 

She points to Digital Eye Strain syndrome, which has increased substantially with our extensive exposure to digital devices. According to her, this has led brand manufacturers to look for a more holistic and comprehensive solution to eye health. 

“Unibar’s award-winning 5-in-1 eye health solution, CapsiClear, is well-suited to meet their needs. A 12-week human clinical study showed that 40 mg of CapsiClear helps improve photo stress recovery time — visual response after seeing bright headlights from a passing car — reduce eye fatigue, improve reading under blue and white light, and increase macular pigment optical density,” he details.

“Additionally, a recent animal study confirmed the benefits of CapsiClear for dry eyes. This patent-pending ingredient can be a Swiss army knife for many formulators and brands looking to build out their portfolio of healthy aging products.”

Mehta argues that the biggest contemporary challenge to eye health is ensuring the urgency to act and educate about good vision at an early age. “Simultaneously, this is an opportunity for ingredient companies like ourselves and our brand partners to educate and create more awareness around this topic.”

He asserts: “With constant exposure to screens and an increase in the aging population, we anticipate more consumers becoming proactive about their vision health in an effort to increase their healthspan as their lifespan increases.”

“While key healthy aging categories such as cardiovascular and bone and joint health are experiencing growth, where we’re seeing the fastest growth is in brain and vision health,” Mehta concludes. 

By Milana Nikolova