Innovation in nutraceutical formulations focusing on men’s health
Looking at the health outcomes of men around the globe, the findings are poor with the life expectancy of men lower when compared to women. Both mortality and morbidity are drastically higher in men compared to women and are predominantly lifestyle-associated chronic diseases such as heart diseases, cancers, obesity, and cerebrovascular illnesses.
Men’s average life expectancy at birth was 69.8 years in 2016, while women’s was 75.3 years. Globally, the gap between men’s and women’s life expectancies after birth grew from 4.2 years in 1970 to 5.5 years in 2016. The annualized decrease in the male age-standardized death rate was 1.18% per year, falling from 1724.7 to 1002.4 per 100,000.
Men had an almost 25% higher overall age-standardized cancer incidence rate in 2012 than women did, with rates of 205 and 165 per 100,000, respectively. Men had an over 50% higher age-standardized cancer death rate than women (126 for men against 83 for women). Males are significantly more likely to die from a number of specific malignancies, such as mesothelioma, esophageal, bladder, laryngeal, lung, tracheal, and bronchus tumors. 4
This has clearly raised alarming signals and has, indeed, become a public health concern in the past decade. Added to this, it has been suggested that men seem to have a functional viewpoint on their bodies and opt for health care as a fixed option. To make better interventions and help men be more proactive in managing their overall health, nutraceuticals functional foods and dietary supplements are the need of the hour.
Lifestyle and Cultural Factors
Qualitative research indicates that men frequently lack the fundamental nutrition knowledge that is typically associated with women, and they frequently criticize initiatives that promote a healthy diet.
Among the several lifestyle issues that contribute to the degrading men’s health, a few of the most critical are visually explained in the figure below:
Lifestyle Risks in Men
Hence, developing an efficient program to promote nutrition and wellness among men is critical in addressing the above factors. Apart from these, nutraceutical products can provide excellent interventional solutions both for disease-specific prevention and general well-being and immunity.
Market Foreseen for Men’s Health
Due to increased awareness of health and well-being, the COVID-19 pandemic had a favourable effect on the market for men’s health supplements. Additionally, it has changed the focus of healthcare towards prevention, which has raised demand for men’s health supplements. While women have historically been the target market for marketers, men’s health supplements have become more and more popular in recent years as a way to support men in maintaining their energy and level of fitness. Approximately 73% of men take health supplements to enhance their general well-being, and 42% of men who take supplements are interested in products that provide comprehensive wellness and health advantages.
Source: Grand View Research
As observed in the graphical representation above, it is clearly understood that nutraceutical trends for men’s health was USD 63.75 billion in 2022 and is anticipated to grow at a compound annual rate of 9.70% from 2023 to 2030.
How Nutraceuticals can be a solution?
Unfortunately, conventional/normal diets do not provide all the required nutrition a man needs. This is where nutraceuticals come as a blessing. They deliver a concentrated form of a recognized bioactive agent from a food, presented in a non-food matrix, and used with the aim of improving health in dosages that surpass those that could be acquired from typical foods. These are sold in the market in the form of pills, tablets and extracts. 2 Some of the therapeutic functional compounds, which can be used in formulation of a men’s health nutritional supplement, along with its medical uses is found in the table below:
|
Functional compounds |
Benefits |
Sources |
| Vitamin E, Selenium and Beta Carotene | Decreases oxidative stress, prevents prostate cancer | Vegetable oil, seeds, nuts, grain products |
| Vitamin D | prevents prostate cancer | Milk, cheese, oysters, butter |
| Vitamin A | Builds immunity, vision, and skin health | Spinach, carrot, mango, apricots |
| Lycopene | Increased fertility, pain relief and skin health | Tomato, papaya, watermelon |
| Selenium | Improves heart and thyroid health, aids cognitive function | Fish, Broccoli, meat, grains |
| Omega-3 Fatty Acid | Augments asthma, type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and neurological disorders | Salmon, Tuna fish |
Source: Getting to Know Nutraceuticals
Source: Diet and Male Fertility: The Impact of Nutrients and Antioxidants on Sperm Energetic Metabolism
These functional compounds can be incorporated in nutraceutical formulations to develop novel or innovative products with specialized benefits.
Conclusion
Most men perceive health-improving foods as pricey, tasteless, non-appealing, and cumbersome to prepare. Hence, it is imperative that extensive research customized to men’s health and nutrition is desperately needed for developing new formulations and delivery modes and improving the safety and efficacy of the product to gain confidence among consumers.
This is where, Guires FRL CDMO, comes to your rescue. With years of profound experience and expertise in nutraceutical product development, we ensure you are provided with immense support right from formulations, regulatory assistance, labelling, to product launch with very low downtime.
References:
- Hayden, T. (2008). Getting to Know Nutraceuticals. Scientific American Body
- Espín, J. C., García-Conesa, M. T., & Tomás-Barberán, F. A. (2007). Nutraceuticals: facts and fiction. Phytochemistry, 68(22-24), 2986-3008.
- Robertson, L. M., Douglas, F., Ludbrook, A., Reid, G., & van Teijlingen, E. (2008). What works with men? A systematic review of health promoting interventions targeting men. BMC health services research, 8(1), 1-9.
- Peter Baker (2018) Men’s health: time for a new approach, Physical Therapy Reviews, 23:2, 144-150, DOI: 10.1080/10833196.2018.1452562
