Speaking at the recent Active Nutrition Summit in Vienna, Chabloz explained that consumers are becoming increasingly well-educated on the importance of good-quality supplements and are placing more value on ingredients that are safe, pure and well-studied.
Supplement brands are facing heightened scrutiny as a result, with companies now under pressure to offer rigorously researched, efficacious products.
Longevity supplements vs ‘regular’ supplements
Founded four years ago, Avea is a Switzerland-based longevity supplement brand which set out to ‘redefine aging’. With more than 30,000 customers, the brand offers a range of longevity supplements, packed with molecules designed to tackle the hallmarks of aging.
“Longevity supplements are not here to focus on your average deficiency, nobody needs these supplements,” Chabloz said. “They are here to do a bit of cellular fine tuning and optimization.”
Avea’s products contain a wide range of longevity molecules such as NMN, resveratrol and ubiquinol—molecules that are naturally present in the body but are difficult to get through diet alone and decline with age.
“These molecules have been shown to be able to target the biological processes behind why and how we age, such as DNA damage, cellular senescence and impaired autophagy, which is this self-cleansing recycling process within the cell,” Chabloz explained.
The team at Avea does not just focus on using the right ingredients but also the right dosages and formula. The brand analyzes the latest scientific evidence and invests in its own research to test the efficacy of its formulations and build consumer trust.
Which consumer demographics are seeking longevity supplements?
Chabloz noted that longevity supplement consumers are not typically looking to extend their life for as long as possible but rather to live more years in good health. The Avea customer base is predominantly comprised of women between the ages of 45 and 65 years.
“This is the demographic that start to really feel the pains of aging,” Chabloz said. “Importantly, this is also the generation that has money. Gen Z are a bit healthier than previous generations. They are moving away from alcohol, for example, and they’re more conscious of the benefits of exercise, but they don’t have the money to spend on supplements.”
Avea’s customers also do their own research, with many beginning to demand purity analysis certificates and third-party testing results. As a result, the company tests every batch of its raw ingredients in a third-party lab in Switzerland.
“We just had a case where one of our batches was contaminated with mercury, so we had to reject it, postpone production and go out of stock with our product, but I’d rather than that than have mercury in our supplements,” she said.
“Maybe it’s not a big deal if you take one or two contaminated supplements here and there, but […] if you’re taking contaminated supplements every day for many years, you may face some health problems in the long-term, so it’s really important that brands do their due diligence. Customers are now aware of this and they are demanding proof that the product is clean.”
How important is personalization to consumers?
Chabloz said Avea’s consumers also know that there is no quick fix or magic longevity pill, and they are looking to brands to offer personalized information and education. However, there is still a reluctance to measure nutrient levels.
“Most customers don’t want to take a test, they just want to feel great,” she noted. “They want to target the issues they’re facing and to solve a problem without the need for testing.”
Blood tests are sometimes necessary to uncover deficiencies, particularly if consumers are not experiencing the benefits of their supplement stack.
“We do a lot of in-house consultations, especially when customers are not feeling the results that they expected,” Chabloz said. “We always go back to basics and ask, ‘Do you take vitamin D?’ […] because if their levels are low, then they will not feel the effects of more ‘fancy’ supplements."
Ultimately, she emphasized that consumers care most about outcomes, and they increasingly seek solutions that offer the best chance of reaching their desired goal.
“Consumers want evidence-based formulas, not just ingredients,” she said. “They want third-party testing and they want some kind of personalization—products which are really addressing their problems and needs. They don’t care about the ingredient; they just care about the result.”
