The Life in Your Years — Healthspan Trend Revitalizes Natural Products Sales
This article first appeared in the February 2025 issue of Presence Marketing’s newsletter.
By Steven Hoffman
As the saying goes, “It’s not the years in your life that count, but the life in your years.” Today, that sentiment is emerging as a lasting market trend, driven by a growing awareness of the concept of “healthspan” vs. “lifespan.”
Over the past few years, consumers have been shifting their focus on health and aging away from just extending the years in one’s life to enhancing the quality of life and health across a lifetime. From the growth in sales of dietary supplements, functional foods and “blue zone” diet products to “bio-hacking,” self-diagnostics and other personalized healthcare tools, the idea of active aging, or healthspan, is taking root.
And it’s not just aging baby boomers seeking to close the gap between lifespan and healthspan in order to remain energetic, vibrant, healthy and free from debilitating illness into advanced age. Recent research indicates that consumers of all ages are interested in promoting longevity and optimal health
"As consumers become drawn to the idea of healthspan, many are leaning into the idea of lowering their biological age – this can span from maintaining cellular health to ensuring they have strong muscles that can help them age gracefully and prevent falls. Aging has mostly been talked about in the context of outward appearance but consumers are now looking inward and optimizing for better functionality and performance as they age,” said the authors of the SPINS 2025 Industry Update & Trends Predictions, published in December 2024. "Lifespan has switched to healthspan focused on personal health and longevity. Chronological age vs. biological age is a new metric — and consumers want to biohack their way into feeling younger,” they added.
Healthy Aging Supplements Exponentially Outpacing Industry Growth
Natural products retailers are well positioned to capitalize on the healthy aging trend. “From lifespan to healthspan, the quest for longer, more active lives is driven by cutting-edge research, technologies, and tools, including a heightened focus on nutritional health and supplements. This year, The Vitamin Shoppe installed longevity-centric product displays in all stores to spotlight key areas of healthy aging needs, including cognitive health, cellular health, and mobility support formulas. Cognitive support products are the biggest sales driver by volume in the new longevity merchandise set, while cellular health support saw the biggest sales gains in 2023, up over 45% from the previous year,” the company said in its Vitamin Shoppe Health & Wellness Trend Report 2024, released in June 2024.
According to Nutrition Business Journal’s (NBJ) 2024 Condition Specific Report, which tracks the supplement market by ingredient category, sales channel and condition, “Brain Health hit the top of the growth chart and is expected to remain No. 1 through 2027, which is as far as we forecast,” Bill Giebler, NBJ’s Content and Insights Director, wrote in September 2024. “What’s compelling, though, is that Healthy Aging, which held the No. 9 growth position in 2020 and 2021, is expected to climb to the No. 2 growth position next year. Supplement usage always fluctuates between correction, maintenance and optimization, with the former two being the bedrock of the industry. Increasingly, though, optimization is coming into play,” he noted.
Market researchers also found that more than half of consumers are taking supplements to extend their healthspan, “and they’re not all seniors,” according to NBJ’s Longevity Report, published in September 2024. According to the study, sales of supplements for healthy aging have been exponentially outpacing overall supplement industry growth since 2022, and are projected to exceed $1 billion in 2027.
"Younger generations are just as, if not more, likely to be more concerned about the quality rather than the quantity of their later years. Millennials, in particular, are watching their aging parents struggle with debilitating health and cognitive issues and realizing they don’t want to grow old that way. Already more proactive about their health than the generations preceding them, millennials are a ripe market with a lot of runway for products that could not only help them stave off wrinkles and male-pattern baldness but also heart disease and dementia,” wrote Longevity Report author Robyn Lawrence.
“And when it comes to maximizing both healthspan and longevity, millennials are going all in on the biggest buzz in healthy aging circles these days: biohacking, or biological self-experimentation with the aim of fine-tuning both physiology and the nervous system to function optimally. NBJ found that taking supplements is the top activity or habit biohackers incorporate into their regimens, opening up a massive opportunity for supplement brands, and over half of millennials — more than any other generation — were somewhat or very interested in biohacking. More than a third of millennials said they would be more likely to buy products that are labeled and marketed using the term biohacking. For supplement brands, all of this means it’s time to take a good look at millennials,” Lawrence advised.
Surveys conducted for the Longevity Report found that consumers put supplements third only to diet and exercise when ranking the actions they’re taking to increase longevity and improve their healthspan. Sixty percent of women and 44% of men say they take supplements to extend their healthspan, NBJ found.
Blue Zone Diet and Foods for Longevity
As consumers catch on to the health risks associated with ultra processed foods, many are turning to whole foods and minimally processed options for healthy aging. “Consumers want their food to work harder for them,” Kathryn Peters, head of industry relations at SPINS, told Fi Global Insights in September 2024. “Consumers are moving away from processed foods, and back towards whole foods. Nutrient density has become a big topic. Consumers might be looking at the relative nutritional benefits of beans vs. processed white bread. They are also interested in consuming more protein and trying to stay away from added sugar. Consumers are demanding more from their products, and manufacturers need to find ways of seeking out ingredients that are minimally processed and better for their health. This is a macro-trend we are seeing, particularly in U.S., but also globally. Consumers are trying to figure out what habits they need to develop to help ensure they have a long and healthy lifespan,” Peters said.
Peters noted the healthspan trend also encompasses the beauty and self-care sectors, with consumers wanting to look and feel young and vibrant at every life stage. Peters pointed out that when it comes to beauty care, consumers prioritize premium brands and are unwilling to cut corners. “This underlines the importance and potential of this macro-trend. This mindset of wellbeing, of looking and feeling young, is here to stay,” she said.
Having studied and written extensively about the world’s “blue zones,” where individuals commonly live to be centenarians, Dan Buettner, a National Geographic Fellow, New York Times best-selling author and Netflix host, co-founded Blue Zones Kitchen, a line of non-GMO, plant-based frozen meals. The line is now sold in more than 1,000 grocery stores, including Whole Foods Market, Wegmans and more. “Many health problems are related to eating processed foods, sugars and red meats, compounded within a healthcare system that expects doctors to talk to people in 15-minute appointments,” Buettner told attendees at Newtopia Now in August 2024. “Fortunately,” he said, “the foods that make up the diets of the world’s longest-lived people are the cheapest ingredients. They’re whole grains, beans and tubers [root vegetables].” According to Buettner, despite all his findings about the importance of exercise and social connections, the most direct healthy aging interventions for most Americans will happen in the kitchen. “I’d start with the food,” he advised.
Sharing insights about foods for longevity, Dr. Paul Savage, M.D., a specialist in toxin reduction and chronic inflammation, emphasized that a long and healthy life isn’t just about choosing the right foods — “It’s about choosing them wisely. Prioritize organic, wild-caught, and toxin-free options wherever possible to ensure you’re maximizing the health benefits and minimizing exposure to harmful substances,” he said.
The Ozempic® Effect and Healthy Aging
Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) — a drug that is currently very popular in the treatment of diabetes, obesity and weight loss — reportedly may help with healthy aging by improving insulin sensitivity, reducing inflammation, and promoting DNA repair. According to National Institutes of Health researchers in a study published in 2023, “GLP‐1 RAs provide proven and potential benefits that may help people experience a prolonged healthy lifespan with reduced risk of serious and chronic aging‐related conditions. Thus, the drug class is positioned as a novel pharmacotherapeutic option that in combination with non‐pharmaceutical interventions can help address the pronounced medical need associated with the aging human population.”
Natural products retailers are reporting a bump in sales of products related to the increased use of GLP-1 medications. Consumers using such medications are seeking nutritional supplement support to help enhance the GLP-1 drug’s mechanism of action, to promote optimal nutrition while on the medication, and to deal with symptoms related to the use of GLP-1, such as maintaining muscle mass during weight loss.
In a study published in June 2024 on The Vitamin Shoppe’s Top Five Health and Wellness Trends, the company reported, “Supplements including proteins, multivitamins, fiber, and probiotics are taking on new importance for patients who are taking semaglutide or tirzepatide weight-loss drugs, such as Ozempic® and Mounjaro®. A sales bump in certain supplement categories that support proper nutrition can already be seen at The Vitamin Shoppe. Ready-to-drink protein beverages, for example, were up 10% in 2023 versus the previous year, and meal replacement products tailored to weight management are up 13% in the first four months of this year. Industry-wide, protein supplements and meal replacements were up 15% for the 52 weeks ending November 5, according to SPINS data.”
“It's by far the hottest thing I've ever seen in my 20 years, and it's not a fad,” Robert Brewster, president of Ingredient by Nature, a company that markets a probiotic strain it refers to as a “longevity probiotic,” told Nutritional Outlook in November 2024. “GLP-1 is not going away.”
Healthspan: A Holistic Healthcare Approach
“While longevity is top of mind, it’s not the same as it once was. Consumers aren’t just looking to live as long as possible; they’re looking to live better longer in a new era dubbed as the ‘healthspan era.’ The forefront of healthspan is giving consumers greater control over their future wellbeing largely with nutrition as the central focus,” said SPINS Senior Director of Market Insights Scott Dicker in a special “Active Aging” edition of Whole Foods Magazine.
“One of the biggest contributions to healthspan, beyond food and beverages, is the increase in personalization around active nutrition. Technology like wearables gives consumers real-time updates on their own health data — allowing them to make health choices unique to their own personal needs. From tracking dietary deficiencies to sleep patterns, wearable technology trades ‘one-size-fits-all’ style solutions for tangible individual health plans,” Dicker added.
Newly emerging healthcare companies like Love.Life, founded by former executives of Whole Foods Market, are leading the charge in blending natural wellness with medical services geared toward optimizing one’s healthspan.
"Love.Life aims to transform the lives of millions of people," said CEO and co-founder John Mackey at the launch of Love.Life in July 2023. "The conventional medical system is fundamentally flawed, focusing on managing diseases and treating symptoms rather than prevention and finding the root cause. Studies show that 80% of chronic diseases can be prevented and reversed through diet and lifestyle changes, which are the focus of Love.Life's philosophy and are rarely included in conventional treatment plans." Through tele-health and concierge services and walk-in wellness centers, Love.Life’s stated goal is to “help people lead long, healthy, and vibrant lives by improving both lifespan and healthspan.”
XPRIZE Healthspan: A $101 Million Global Competition
The quest for healthy aging is serious business, so much so that in July 2024, teams began competing in XPRIZE Healthspan, a seven-year, $101-million global competition to revolutionize the way we approach human aging, the goal of which is to “advance proactive, accessible therapeutic modalities that reduce the risk of chronic age-related diseases, increases human health span and extends quality of life well into our later years,” say the XPRIZE organizers.
A trustee of XPRIZE Healthspan, Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D., a psychologist, author of numerous books on aging, and CEO of Age Wave, has emerged as one of the world’s foremost visionaries regarding the lifestyle, marketing, healthcare, economic and workforce implications of aging. In an interview on Michael Krasny’s Grey Matter podcast in December 2023, Dychtwald said, “How many of your years are you healthy, vital, active, productive, vs. are you beginning to fall apart? We are 68th in the world when it comes to our healthspan in the U.S. What we all want is to live long and to live well and to not have the suffering and falling apart stretched out,” he said.
“Quality of life is what it is all about. We need to hold a mirror back to our own approach to healthcare and realize that we don’t take good care of our bodies, we eat a lot of junk food, two thirds of the population is overweight; we have a medical system that is all over the place, we have pharma industries and insurer industries making all kinds of money; we have a profit oriented system; we don’t even have geriatric competencies as a key variable among doctors, physical therapists, providers, etc.”
Dychtwald continued: “In a youth era, we assume that young people have hopes and dreams and you either achieve them or you don’t and then time’s up. But if you’re going to be living in a new era, a new age of aging, you might have new dreams at 70. You might have your biggest dreams beyond when you ever thought it was possible and we’ve got to open up the door to those possibilities. And so purpose is less a matter of simply hanging on for many people; for a growing number of people, it’s about discovering what their new purpose might be in their later years. Having done away with many acute and infectious diseases with things like penicillin, what are the breakthroughs we now need in healthcare so that we and our children and grandchildren can live long healthy lives?
Steven Hoffman is Managing Director of Compass Natural, providing public relations, brand marketing, social media and strategic business development services to natural, organic, sustainable and hemp/CBD products businesses. Contact steve@compassnaturalmarketing.com.
Natural & Organic Industry Set to Surpass $300 Billion in Sales in 2023, Despite Slower Growth, Inflation
This article first appeared in Presence Marketing’s May 2023 newsletter.
By Steven Hoffman
The U.S. natural and organic products industry is on pace to surpass $300 billion in total industry sales in 2023, despite slower growth and inflation, according to early estimates by Nutrition Business Journal.
Presenting the data at Natural Products Expo West in March, New Hope Network SVP and Market Leader Carlotta Mast said, “This would represent a doubling of industry sales over the last decade. That’s huge. We are a sizeable, impactful, meaningful industry. We’re not a fad anymore. We’re not this niche industry.”
Photo: Unsplash
U.S. consumer sales of natural and organic products reached $278 billion in 2022, with growth slowing from 7% in 2021 to 5.4% in 2022, according to preliminary research by Nutrition Business Journal, based on data provided by market research firm SPINS. This follows an unprecedented spike of 10% growth in 2020, as a result of the pandemic. Sales growth is expected to recover somewhat going forward, according to Mast, and is projected to reach 6% in 2024 and 2025.
The bulk of the growth in 2022 was driven by natural, organic and functional food and beverage sales, led by carbonated drinks, dairy alternatives, “better-for-you” sweeteners, baby products and canned and dried soups. These categories outperformed the overall natural and organic products industry, Mast noted. In functional foods and beverages, sports and energy drinks, soft drinks, frozen desserts and snack chips that include functional ingredients such as mushrooms, adaptogens, electrolytes, prebiotics and healthy fats helped drive sales in the category.
Hitting a milestone in 2022, as well, were sales of organic food and beverage products, with sales estimated at more than $50 billion. According to Mast, this figure represents a doubling in organic food and beverage sales since 2014. Product categories that performed strongly in the organic sector last year included organic baby formula, candy, dips, soft drinks and yogurt, according to New Hope and SPINS data.
However, after seeing record growth in 2020, most impacted by inflationary pressures was the dietary supplements category, which rose only 1.7% in 2022 to $60.9 billion in sales, based on the data presented at Expo West and reported on by Food Navigator-USA.
Kathryn Peters, Chief of Staff at SPINS, shared with attendees at Expo West that natural and organic foods are continuing to expand into the mainstream, with sales of natural products in conventional grocery and convenience outpacing growth in traditional natural food stores. Growth in sales of natural products in 2022 increased 9.2% in convenience, followed by a 7.4% increase in “conventional multi-outlet,” and a 4.1% increase in regional grocery, compared to 2.5% growth in the natural channel, based on SPINS data and reported by Food Navigator-USA.
While shoppers continue to look for deals and best prices across multiple channels including supermarkets, mass retailers, club stores and online to help reduce the impact of higher food prices, according to The Hartman Group and FMI — The Food Industry Association, 32% of shoppers concerned about rising food prices reported buying fewer items as a strategy to save money in February 2023. That’s down from 41% of shoppers who reported buying fewer items to save on food costs in October 2022.
“Our national survey reveals persistent consumer concern about food and beverage prices, as the weekly spend for groceries increased in late 2022 and early in 2023,” Leslie G. Sarasin, president and CEO of FMI, said in a statement. “To address higher prices, shoppers are visiting more stores and seeking deals to stretch their dollars but are now less likely to cut back on the number of items purchased compared to six months or a year ago. This is an opportunity for our industry to continue connecting with shoppers on food-inflation-mitigating solutions.”
According to FMI and The Hartman Group’s findings, food price concerns cut across shopper demographics, however, “Boomers are more worried about rising food prices than any other group, with 80% showing concern in February 2023 versus 69% in October 2022. Millennials polled close behind with 76% saying they are concerned, 5% more than one year ago. Such concerns about food costs coincide with an increase in spending in this inflationary environment. In February, on average, consumers spent $164 per week on groceries, up from $148 in both October and February of 2022,” FMI said.
Natural and organic food shoppers, in particular, may be less sensitive to price than traditional shoppers, but they still want quality, taste, nutrition, value … and sustainability. Younger consumers are driving demand toward brands that reduce waste and minimize carbon footprint and environmental impact. “The values-oriented shopper is a really important and valuable shopper,” Peters of SPINS noted, and according to Nutrition Business Journal, organic products are one of the last places consumers say they are willing to trade down to fight food inflation.
In a Chicago Tribune feature article published on April 3, 2023, Tonya Lofgren, Marketing Manager of Ciranda, a leading organic ingredient supplier based in Hudson, WI, said, “What’s cool about the natural and organic shopper is that if they value that, they’ll prioritize it over other ways to adjust spending because they realize how important it is.” Ciranda CEO Doug Audette added, “We are seeing consumers rationalizing their spending decisions. Overall, that has tempered the growth in organic. But we see no letting up in the long-term growth of organic, sustainable and fair-trade ingredients.”
In a March 2023 organic market report, USDA reported that, after a surge in pantry stocking pushed sales to record heights in 2020, organic food sales declined for the first time in decades in 2021 on an inflation-adjusted basis. However, “more than 15 million new customers entered the organic and natural foods market between early March and mid-April 2020,” USDA said. Time will tell if these consumers stick with organic.
According to USDA’s market report, organic consumers are diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, education, and income, though millennials purchase organic food at larger rates than other generations. Households with children are also more likely to purchase organic food than households without children, USDA noted.
Yet, challenging new and dedicated organic consumers alike is the fact that organic foods are seeing some of the steepest price hikes amid stubbornly high food inflation. Prices for organic fruit and vegetables rose 13.1% over the past year, compared with just under 10% for conventional produce, according to a February 2023 analysis of USDA retail pricing data by Lending Tree.
Among all the food groups included in Lending Tree’s analysis, organic chicken prices increased the most, at 19.5%. “That's more than three times the price jump for conventionally raised chicken, which rose 5.9% over the last year, the report shows. For households already struggling with the nation's worst bout of inflation in 40 years, such spikes could force many consumers to opt for nonorganic options instead,” CBS News reported.
Sales data for 2022 show organic fruits and vegetables growing in revenue but declining in sale volume, according to the Organic Produce Network. However, that’s a common theme across the food industry as consumers pay more for less in the face of heavy inflation, the Chicago Tribune noted.
According to the Tribune, a quarter of consumers surveyed by Nutrition Business Journal over the past year said they’re unlikely to stop buying organic produce, packaged food and meat to save money on groceries. Fewer than half of respondents said they are likely to cut those products out.
Steven Hoffman is Managing Director of Compass Natural, providing public relations, brand marketing, social media, and strategic business development services to natural, organic, sustainable and hemp/CBD products businesses. Compass Natural serves in PR and programming for NoCo Hemp Expo and Southern Hemp Expo, and Hoffman serves as Editor of the weekly Let’s Talk Hemp Newsletter, published by We Are for Better Alternatives. Contact steve@compassnaturalmarketing.com.