Approaches to supporting longevity: A SupplySide Global 2025 report

Healthy aging, longevity, active aging, whatever you want to call it, is seeing growing interest as the science around aging develops and ingredient manufacturers innovate to meet the growing demands of the category. More than anything, consumers are becoming more proactive about aging, trying to make sure they can spend their advanced years with dignity. For example, at SupplySide Global 2025 (SSG), dsm-firmenich’s (Maastricht, The Netherlands) interactive booth, The Longevity Shift, was all about the consumer shift to preventative approaches to healthy aging that employ wearable technology as well as dietary supplement protocols. Longevity, as the category was largely referred to at SSG, also encompasses various approaches that leaves room for brands to create different products for a diverse range of consumers. Here’s a look at some of the ways industry is approaching longevity.

Body and Mind

Longevity used to be largely about cosmetic appearance as well as maintaining physical junction, ie. joint health. These are still relevant ways to support longevity. According to Antonio Vendrell, marketing and communication director at Bioiberica (Barcelona, Spain), due to the multifaceted nature of aging, multifunctional products may be the best way to market supplements to consumers. “It's related to mobility, it's related to beauty, it's related to some other elements,” says Vendrell. “Our portfolio, for example, has three branded ingredients that make a lot of sense to fit in longevity, and one is for mobility, and it's Collavant n2, another one is Mobilee, it's also for mobility, and then we've got Dermial, that is beauty-from-within. So, these are ingredients that can fit very well into a nutraceutical that is for this type of targets.”

Gelita's (Eberbach, Germany) bioactive collagen peptides may also be a good solution to support beauty-from-within as well as mobility, to support joint and muscle health. A recent clinical trial, for example, showed that its Verisol ingredient helped reduce wrinkles, increase skin elasticity, and improve skin hydration.¹

Brain health is another important consideration given concerns about cognitive function and memory as we age. Numerous ingredients target cognitive health, and may therefore be relevant for longevity products. One such ingredient is Cognizin Citicoline from Kyowa Hakko.

“Cognizin Citicoline really does have some unique mechanisms, where we look at phospholipids, and so that is going to lend to the integrity and structural component of your neuronal cells that are going to lead to long term brain health and brain function,” explains Katie Emerson, senior manager, scientific affairs at Kyowa Hakko (New York City). “And then it also has a mental aspect, where it works on the mitochondria, so we're seeing increased in bioenergetics in the brain. And then the one that I think resonates with most people, is neurotransmitter activation. So, we're seeing acetylcholine levels, which translates to better focus and attention.”

Turning Back the Clock?

Aging is inescapable, but there may be ways we can age better, so that we can maintain quality of life for longer. Nutrition can be an important component of this, in addition to a healthy, active lifestyle. For example, at SSG, dsm-firmenich emphasized the hallmarks of aging and how its portfolio can be used to manage particular hallmarks of aging.

Sonia Hartunian-Sowa, head of translational science and advocacy for dsm-firmenich explains that out of the 12 hallmarks of aging, not all can be controlled, but the ones that can be managed through nutrition, and that the company focuses on are chronic inflammation, mitochondrial function, gut health, and cellular senescence. Chronic inflammation, she says, is the underpinning of most age-related processes, while mitochondria, known as the power plant of the cell responsible for ATP production, slows down while we age. “We talk about cellular senescence, which is a rather unusual term if you haven't heard before, but cells healthily divide every day, and when they stop dividing, they become what we call zombie cells,” explains Hartunian-Sowa. “So, they're kind of like ghost cells, and they can put out some materials and metabolites that are actually a little bit dangerous. So, we don't want senescence to occur.” Finally, gut dysbiosis is also a major factor in aging. Digestion slows down, and therefore care must be taken to preserve a healthy gut microbiomes, says Hartunian-Sowa.

Recent research as part of the DO-HEALTH² study found that omega-3 and vitamin D supplementation in combination with exercise may slow aging based on DNA methylation clocks of biological aging. “DO-HEALTH happens to include our life'sOmega, which is an omega-3, EPA, DHA, and also our Quali-D, which is a vitamin D₃ and in the amounts that they were combined, people were supplemented for three years,” explains Hartunian-Sowa. “What's really exciting is that during the supplementation, they measured things like biological age, biological clocks, frailty, bone health, and more. And the results showed that supplementation with vitamin D and omega-3 actually slowed the biological clock. So in addition to showing markers for chronic inflammation that were decreased, it actually shows maybe modestly, but we could have a 10% reduction over three years in our biological clock.”

“We also have other solutions that target inflammation, for example, neuroinflammation: Lutein, zeaxanthin, curcumin, l-theanine,” she adds. “We have other aspects, looking at a tri-biotic, a pre-, pro-, and post biotic for gut dysbiosis, and also sort of a cellular antioxidant shield, resVida, lycopene and other antioxidant that are really, really important in the aging process, and we've incorporated those with multiple vitamins to show a benefit toward healthy aging.”

DNA methylation is a growing consideration in how we conceive of aging, and nutrition is an important factor within this. “So, when we think of the term epigenetics, that's really what it looks like, as what changes are from your environment, your epigenome, without your DNA sequence changing itself, but those effects from stress, sleep, your eating habits, all take a toll on your body as we age, and the process or the mechanism of DNA methylation itself is what is the reaction of those changes to your epigenome,” explains Lauren Eisen, senior marketing and business development manager for Balchem (Montvale, NJ). “Nutrition is really important and our ingredients, like folate through Optifolin+, choline, Vitacholine, and MSM such as OptiMSM are all methyl donors, and they help contribute to the methyl pool, which then contributes to DNA methylation which help with that gene expression.”

According to Eisen, gene expression is like turning certain genes on and off in order to control biological processes, “which keep everything working, which then in turn help respond to those environmental factors, which helps with epigenetic health.”

“So, when we think about healthy aging, the term of epigenetic health really is how we respond to those structure and functional mechanisms, and how we can contribute from nutrition into that story as we grow together, from helping with the biological age against our chronological age,” concludes Eisen.

Our understanding of aging processes and potential solutions will only continue to grow, but the industry is primed to answer the call to support longevity and help people have a more positive experience with aging.

References

1. Proksch, E.; Zdzieblik, D.; Oesser, S. The Oral Intake of Specific Bovine-Derived Bioactive Collagen Peptides Has a Stimulatory Effect on Dermal Matrix Synthesis and Improves Various Clinical Skin Parameters. Cosmetics 2025, 12, 79. https://doi.org/10.3390/cosmetics12020079
2. Bischoff-Ferrar, H.A.; Gangler, S.; Wieczorek, M.; Belsky, D.W.; Ryan, J.; Kressig, R.W.; Stahelin, H.B.; Thieler, R.; et al. Individual and additive effects of vitamin D, omega-3 and exercise on DNA methylation clocks of biological aging in older adults from the DO-HEALTH trial. Nat Aging. 2025, 5 (3), 376-385. DOI: 10.1038/s43587-024-00793-y