The survey identified revealing heart, energy and muscle as the top-ranked concerns for consumers.
“The health benefits received through food is increasingly becoming more important to consumers, and establishing healthy lifestyle behaviour early in life is one factor that can contribute to healthy ageing,” said Reinhart Schmitt, MD Solae Europe. “Our study results point to an opportunity for food manufacturers to focus more on healthy ageing foods and take opportunity of the fact that 2012 will be the European Year of Active Ageing.”
The study shows that 40-50% of consumers aged 45-74 are concerned about heart, energy and muscle. Nearly 70% of the age 45-74 consumers rate their diet ‘healthful’. The older the consumer, the more likely they are to rate their diet as healthful.
30% believe they are not meeting their nutritional needs, and women express more health concerns than men.
Protein intakes decline for males and females as they age, and this may indicate an interesting trend for food manufacturers, as 92% of UK respondents rated protein as a nutrient that’s extremely or somewhat important to their overall health. This is aligned with scientific evidence that supports the benefit of increasing total protein intake, the percentage of calories from protein and possibly the amount of protein consumed at one time.
The UK respondents also registered the highest concerns of the five countries for heart health, at 63% (51% of UK respondents ranked heart health as their #1 or #2 health concern).
“Soy protein is the perfect ingredient to meet these two UK top concerns,” said Schmitt. “It’s a complete protein and it’s cholesterol free. Educating adults on the importance of choosing adequate and appropriate levels of macronutrients, like protein, in their diet is a critical component of healthy ageing.”
The elderly population, who are 60 years of age or older, exceeds 650m people worldwide. This is the fastest growing age group, with an ever-increasing life expectancy (80+ years in developed countries and now increasing in developing countries, too).
By 2050, it’s anticipated that this age group will jump to more than 2bn people globally. People of this age are taking a more active role in overall health and wellness, choosing active, healthy lifestyles to preserve health and vitality as they age.
Source: Solae
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