As a company whose purpose is to make the world healthier and happier, premier global nutrition company, Herbalife Nutrition, today released findings from its 2018 Asia Pacific Healthy Aging Survey. 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 uncovered insights into the meaning of healthy aging, the importance of lifestyle changes for healthy aging, as well as key motivators and influencers for healthy aging.
The survey revealed that the majority (66 percent) of Asia Pacific consumers define the meaning of healthy aging as “being physically and mentally active as I age”. While aging 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 aging.
However, a much smaller group of Asia Pacific consumers believe that one should start healthy aging early, with only slightly more than half (54 percent) agreeing that the right age to start taking steps towards healthy aging is between 40 to 45.
According to the Asia Pacific Risk Center, Asia Pacific is the fastest aging 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 aging 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 aging through improving nutrition and physical activity,” said Stephen Conchie, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Herbalife Nutrition. “At Herbalife Nutrition, our trained members, combined with our targeted nutrition products, provide consumers with a comprehensive and personalized solution to kickstart their healthy aging journey early.”
Making Better Nutrition Choices” the Most Important Lifestyle Change for Healthy Aging
When asked about the most important lifestyle change to enable healthy aging, 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, as shown in the table below:
Protein Undervalued for its Role in Supporting Healthy Aging
In terms of the type of supplements that Asia Pacific consumers are currently taking, the survey revealed that the majority of their supplement consumption centered around multivitamins (75 percent) and calcium (53 percent). However, only three in 10 are consuming protein as part of their supplement mix for healthy aging. With protein being a key nutrient that supports the development of muscles for healthy aging when combined with an active lifestyle, findings indicate the role of protein in supporting healthy aging is undervalued.
Key Motivators and Influencers to Encourage Better Nutrition Choices
The survey also uncovered three key motivators to encourage Asia Pacific consumers to make better nutrition choices for healthy aging. These include:
- Having a better understanding of the role of good nutrition in healthy aging (66 percent);
- Ease of access to healthy aging food options and products (46 percent); and
- Availability of friends and family who are on the same healthy aging journey (35 percent).
Family wields the most influence when it comes to healthy aging:
Family and friends also emerged as the main channel for Asia Pacific consumers to obtain healthy aging tips, with 51 percent turning to their family and friends, ahead of online media (49 percent) and TV (43 percent).
