Younger consumers are ‘the overlooked element’ of healthy ageing [Interview]

Contrary to some preconceived notions, 18- to 30-year-olds feel less satisfied with their health than older generations. This trend belies the stereotype of young adults as being more progressive, enlightened, and proactive across a range of issues, including maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle.

“This generation has many more opportunities in a lot of ways, but also faces tremendous pressures to succeed,” explains Hughes. “Many young people also worry about a lot of things, such as getting onto the property market and job security. All this is amplified by social media.”

Navigating anxiety and worry

Hughes points out that young people are also constantly exposed to news and opinions in a way that older generations never were, and are perhaps less well equipped to tune this constant online noise out. The reality is that many feel burnt out and stressed, and struggle to navigate daily uncertainty and worry.

Young people have also increasingly substituted face-to-face connections with online connections,” continues Hughes. “All this is impacting their physical health as well as their emotional wellness. If you dig down into their lifestyles, you’ll see that many have substituted playing outside growing up to being on their phone. Growing up indoors more can also impact your immune systems and waistline.”

Re-examining healthy ageing

Hughes’s presentation at Fi Europe will examine these shifting needs and health concerns of next-gen consumers. He will also uncover the opportunities that exist for the food and beverage market to be more attuned and attentive to these needs.

“We need to move away from this idea of 18 to 30s as being this homogeneous, healthy, happy-go-lucky, dynamic group,” he says. “There is an opportunity here for industry to stress the importance of self-care, and help young people to step back and relax.”

This will in part involve re-examining what we mean by healthy ageing. For many people, this phrase conjures up images of older adults going to the gym, eating well, and using apps to monitor their wellbeing.

Hughes argues that older age groups are the most comfortable with their health status – it is in fact young people that are less confident and in need of assistance. This also makes good business sense; young people are more likely and willing to change their dietary patterns and to buy into industry messages.

Back to basics health

“A key message I’ll be sharing at Fi Europe is that all this is not necessarily about creating a brand-new product with the ultimate ingredient,” says Hughes. “It is about sharing a simple message that coincides with a general wellness trend, and that is back to basics health.”

This concept should be thought of within the context of a hierarchy of needs. In other words, cool functional products centred around specific personalised needs are all well and good, but if consumers are not encouraged to get the basics right – sleeping well, following a good diet, exercising – then these products will be ineffective.

“No one is saying that a good night’s sleep will solve a mental health issue,” says Hughes. “But without a good night’s sleep, a consumer will not be on track to resolve this issue. The danger is that by focusing so much on niche things, we forget the basics to look after ourselves.”