Speaking on stage at the Remedy Nutrafood CDMO Conference in Gdańsk, Poland (Oct. 22-23), Alex Glover, global product formulation lead at Holland & Barrett, noted the challenges of developing and selling ‘healthspan’ supplements to a market that will only repeatedly purchase products if they feel they are gaining benefits.
“We, as an industry, are often very focused on mechanisms of action and biomarkers,” he told delegates.
“Consumers may initially buy into a brand story but their final judgement of the product will be based on the outcome.”
He discussed insights gleaned from H&B’s consumer panels, explaining the team has conducted a number of panels with consumers aged 50 plus and discovered their health concerns all center around day-to-day activities, rather than big picture ideas such as healthspan.
“We had one lady in her 50’s who told us she just wants to be able to play with her grandchildren, get up from her chair without pain, and have the freedom to travel a bit without concern over her health,” he revealed.
He warned customers do not buy into mechanisms of action or big picture ideas.
“Most are not concerned about their NAD+ levels, whether their sirtuins are scavenging or how long their telomeres are; they buy products based on how they feel when they take your product.”
In line with this, Glover said H&B’s best sellers are products with a clearly communicated benefits that people will feel on a day-to-day basis.
He listed consumers’ main concerns when deciding whether to purchase.
“They want to know; how much is it? How long it will take to feel it? How will I feel the benefits? and can I measure or track the effect?”
In an aim to better understand how consumers perceive longevity products, the H&B team has asked 1,000 of their consumers what they think ‘cellular health’ is.
“The range of responses we received was like the list of results in Family Fortunes; they have no idea what it means.” Glover said.
He emphasized that it is therefore the brand’s job to clearly communicate the daily functional benefits the consumer can expect to experience.
In this vein, he added that H&B will tend to formulate new products based around benefits of interest, as opposed to specific ingredients or mechanisms of action.
Function-focused innovation
Speaking about the huge trend for creatine, he said the retailer has focused on delivering potent gummies and creatine products with added benefits in order to appeal to newcomers joining this category who are not the typical strength-focused gym goers.
And discussing bit white space opportunities for innovation in the longevity arena, Glover argued that fiber is not getting the attention it deserves as an essential component for improving healthspan.
“Fiber is a big one in the longevity space that people don’t talk enough about. There is so much evidence to show fiber’s impact on your gut function, heart disease risk and longevity.”
How brands translate cellular ageing science into benefits consumers actually feel, and what that means for claims and product strategy in the longevity nutrition sector, sits at the heart of Nutra Healthspan Summit 2026 taking place in London next week (Nov 10-11).
