Herbalife Nutrition releases survey on the meaning of healthy ageing, lifestyle changes for healthy ageing, and key motivators and influencers for healthy ageing.

 

Global nutrition company, Herbalife Nutrition, released findings from its 2018 Asia Pacific Healthy Aging Survey which uncovered insights into the meaning of healthy ageing, the importance of lifestyle changes for healthy ageing, as well as key motivators and influencers for healthy ageing. Conducted in August 2018 with 5,500 respondents aged 40 and above in 11 markets including Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

The survey revealed that the majority (66 percent) of Asia-Pacific consumers define the meaning of healthy ageing as “being physically and mentally active as I age”. While ageing is an inevitable process, a larger majority (92 percent) of respondents believe that active steps can be taken to help them age healthily – in fact, 76 percent of them have already started taking steps towards healthy ageing.

However, a much smaller group of Asia-Pacific consumers believe that one should start healthy ageing early, with only slightly more than half (54 percent) agreeing that the right age to start taking steps towards healthy ageing is between 40 to 45.

According to the Asia Pacific Risk Center, Asia-Pacific is the fastest ageing region of the world with over 200 million people expected to move into the ranks of the elderly (aged 65 years and above) between now and 2030. “With rapidly ageing populations posing unprecedented social and economic challenges in the region, we believe that consumers should be educated on the need to start taking active steps towards healthy ageing through improving nutrition and physical activity,” said Stephen Conchie, senior vice-president and managing director, Asia Pacific, Herbalife Nutrition.

When asked about the most important lifestyle change to enable healthy ageing, 81 percent of respondents chose “making better nutrition choices”, ahead of “engaging in more regular physical activity” (75 percent) and “engaging in more mentally-stimulating activity” (71 percent). However, a smaller proportion of respondents have taken steps to put these important lifestyle habits into practice – 74 percent shared they have put in place better nutrition choices, 73 percent engage in more regular physical activity and 59 percent said they engage in more mentally-stimulating activity.

In terms of the type of supplements that Asia-Pacific consumers are currently taking, the survey revealed that the majority of their supplement consumption centred around multivitamins (75 percent), calcium (53 percent), antioxidants (43 percent) and fish oil (42 percent). However, only three in 10 are consuming protein as part of their supplement mix for healthy ageing. With protein being a key nutrient that supports the development of muscles for healthy ageing when combined with an active lifestyle, findings indicate the role of protein in supporting healthy ageing is undervalued.

The survey also uncovered three key motivators to encourage Asia-Pacific consumers to make better nutrition choices for healthy ageing. These include:

• Having a better understanding of the role of good nutrition in healthy ageing (66 percent);
• Ease of access to healthy ageing food options and products (46 percent); and
• Availability of friends and family who are on the same healthy ageing journey (35 percent).

Family wields the most influence when it comes to healthy ageing (69 percent), followed by friends (47 percent) and doctors (45 percent). Family and friends also emerged as the main channel for Asia-Pacific consumers to obtain healthy ageing tips, with 51 percent turning to their family and friends, ahead of online media (49 percent) and TV (43 percent).

 

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