Malaysia-based pharmacy chain Alpro, for instance, had managed to convert 70% of over 60,000 individuals that they had screened to supplement their vitamin D levels – and even to the extent of customizing their vitamin D dosage with the help of in-house pharmacists.
“Every 1,000 IU of vitamin D supplementation could increase vitamin D levels in the blood by 10 nanograms per millilitre; that’s how we calculate the customized dosing for our patients in the pharmacy setting,” said Yi Ling Ng, professional care & development manager at Alpro Pharmacy. “We measure the pre-supplementation and post-supplementation vitamin D levels. This is important for people living in an Asian country. Since we are living in the tropics with strong sunlight, people would not think that they are insufficient or deficient in vitamin D levels. However, if they are screened and realized that they are deficient in vitamin D levels, that actually triggers fear and a series of actions.”
Vitamin D screening was the second project by the pharmacy chain, which first started point-of-care testing by screening HbA1c levels and pre-diabetes in the community.
The pharmacy chain is now launching its next project on ferritin screening to tackle iron deficiency and believes there are more opportunities to come.
“We see this as a replicable model for all other kinds of nutrients, including what we are currently doing with ferritin,” said Ng. “We are also exploring other ingredients for how we can measure and encourage consumers to take action from there and I think there are a lot of opportunities for such testing.”
Ng was joined by three other panellists on the last day of the summit (July 10) held in Singapore, namely Lay Kwan Goh, VP Marketing & Business Development APAC, Health Nutrition & Care, dsm-firmenich; Dr Amanda Rao, founder and CEO, RDC Clinical representing Pharmako Biotechnologies and Alicia Ng, VP, head of R&D, Asia Pacific & Indian Subcontinent at Haleon.
The panel, which discussed the topic of “Healthy Aging and Healthspan Advances” was moderated by Tingmin Koe, editor of NutraIngredients.
Aging population fast-growing but lifestyle modifications the crux
Asia-Pacific’s aging population is fast growing, which offers vast opportunities for brands to market healthy longevity products; however, the important part still boils down to encouraging consumers to make lifestyle modifications.
Highlighting Japan, South Korea, Singapore, China, and even India as markets that are fast catching up on the aging trend, Alicia Ng, VP, head of R&D, Asia Pacific & Indian Subcontinent at Haleon, said that these were the market hotspots for longevity products.
In Japan, for instance, 30% of the population is already over the age of 65.
“Right now, 15 percent of the population in APAC is above 60, and by the year 2030, one in five will be above 60 years old,” said Ng. “I think the important thing when marketing these products is making sure that consumers are willing to take the step and make lifestyle modifications. If they are not aware of their conditions and do not care about it, then there’s also no market potential for the products.”
At Haleon, one way of doing so is to raise condition awareness and translate “what is invisible to visible,” said Ng.
“Condition awareness has become very important. How do you convince someone that you need to take Centrum? This is until and unless you measure the biomarkers using tools like the epigenetic clock, glycation-based measurements and also the multi-omics approach that is fast emerging,” she said. “These approaches can enable us to explain to consumers the before-and-after effect of taking some products and this is what we are doing.”
Influencers, yoga chain join in the longevity conversation
Healthy longevity is no longer a conversation relevant only to seniors but is also becoming a mainstream topic discussed by lifestyle influencers.
“What we are seeing now is a bottom-up approach as well, where the longevity shift is talked about by influencers and within the industry,” said Lay Kwan Goh, VP Marketing & Business Development APAC, Health Nutrition & Care at dsm-firmenich.
Even yoga chains are joining the conversation on healthy longevity.
In Japan, the yoga chain LAVA has launched supplements containing microalgal omega-3 and vitamin D under the brand Yoganic. The chain is said to have referenced the DO-HEALTH study findings to support its products’ benefits.
The DO-HEALTH study is thus far the largest European nutritional intervention that has shown how omega-3 and vitamin D supplementation, as well as a home exercise program, could reverse aging by three years.
This cultural shift is also validated in a 2025 global health concern study conducted by dsm-firmenich. Nearly 60% of the 750 respondents said they were concerned about longevity.
“This is where we see this shift happening; we have validated this with consumers and their concerns when it comes to not aging better but aging slower, taking a less reactive stance but a more preventive stance and knowing that there are signs out there to really support the slowing down of aging,” said Goh.
The concept of the 12 Hallmarks of Aging is widely covered when it comes to tackling biological aging. dsm-firmenich, in particular, is tackling four specific areas, namely gut dysbiosis, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence and chronic inflammation, with its range of functional ingredients.
Delivery system the icing on top
From nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) to pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ), new functional ingredients for supporting healthy longevity are rapidly emerging across Asia-Pacific.
However, the bioavailability of these ingredients should not be neglected, Dr Amanda Rao, founder and CEO, RDC Clinical pointed out.
“There are so many interesting ingredients that are coming out, whether that’s the ones we’ve known before or we’re reinventing or something different, but can we actually get them into our body?” said Dr Rao. “What happens with a lot of these really good ingredients is that they’re lipophilic, so they do not absorb and we need to use delivery systems to get those ingredients to where the body needs. The ingredients have to go to our cells and, particularly for longevity, they’ve got to go to the mitochondria.”
Enhancing these ingredients with advanced delivery systems could also allow manufacturers to reduce the dose required per serving.
An example of a delivery technology is LipiSperse, which could be used on functional ingredients such as palmitoylethanolamide (PEA). This is also an ingredient naturally present in our body but depletes with age and is the body’s natural defence against inflammation, pain and mobility.
Ultimately, “every ingredient needs a different type of delivery system; it’s not a one-size-fits-all,” said Dr Rao.
