- Longer lifespans are increasing pressure on overstretched healthcare systems
- Age-related diseases are rising despite improving population longevity
- Gut microbiome changes influence inflammation, cognition and healthy ageing
- Targeted nutrition could support healthspan through microbiome modulation
- Stronger biomarker evidence is needed to validate future innovations
People are living longer. In the Netherlands, for example, the percentage of the population over 65 has risen from 12.8% in 1990 to 20.8% in 2025. And this pattern is repeated across the globe
But living longer doesn’t always mean more healthy years. Levels of age-related health issues – including neurodegenerative, cardiovascular, metabolic, musculoskeletal and immune system diseases – are rocketing. That’s a problem for individuals often living with multiple conditions. It’s also a problem for healthcare systems that are already struggling through over-demand and lack of resources.
What can the food and nutrition research do to help? There’s a well-known link between nutrition and healthy ageing. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, the right kind of fats, and not too much salt and sugar is familiar advice to avoid all kinds of long-term health issues. But can industry go further? Can food and beverage manufacturers help individuals and health systems alike through targeted interventions that focus on healthspan rather than lifespan?
The answer isn’t 100% clear – yet. But there’s good reason to believe it will be yes. And a particularly interesting place to look is the gut microbiome, which can be modulated through dietary interventions
In recent years, researchers have identified numerous hallmarks of ageing. These are biological processes linked to impaired cell function and increased risk of age-related disease. These processes can’t be stopped, but the goal of healthy ageing is to slow them down – or, at least, prevent them accelerating. If this can be achieved then the onset of age-related diseases could potentially be delayed.
Among these processes are changes in the relative abundance of different types of microorganisms in the gut. Some microbes become more common as people age and others less. Many of these microbes create biomarkers linked to either healthy or unhealthy ageing as metabolites. For example, Ruminococcus torques degrades the gut’s mucus layer and produces para-cresol, both of which have been linked to an increased risk of inflammation and inflammatory bowel disease. Eubacterium rectale, on the other hand, produces butyrate, which can modulate inflammatory responses and may help reduce the risk of neuroinflammation and cognitive decline.
These findings suggest a possible approach to promote healthy ageing. If the food and nutrition industry can identify particular (edible) molecules that encourage positive microbiome changes, inhibit negative ones or stimulate the production of particular biomarkers, the door is open to a new world of targeted healthy ageing food and beverage products
The ability to substantiate any health claims is essential. Doing this directly for healthy ageing claims is extremely difficult. Companies cannot realistically run 30-year intervention studies
However, there is indirect evidence to support the approach. On one hand, various cohort and longitudinal studies have found links between specific biomarkers and healthy ageing outcomes. On the other, the idea that the microbiome can be modulated with specific food components, such as particular fibres, and that this leads to systemic health benefits is well accepted within academia and the food industry.
While this evidence provides an encouraging starting point, there are still gaps. The current evidence suggests a correlation between diet, microbiome and healthy-ageing benefits but causation is less clear – there’s a need to determine which dietary interventions cause specific microbiome changes that ultimately lead to improved healthy-ageing outcomes
To do that, manufacturers needs to better understand the pathway from food and drink to microbiome to health effects. Until now, the industry has mainly explored such links for relatively short-term effects such as improving sleep, mood or immune system response. It needs to expand that research to processes that take place over decades, while keeping study timelines realistic. That means identifying more validated biomarkers that can be measured today and reliably predict future healthy-ageing outcomes.
Answering these questions is necessary to build the scientific framework needed to support future healthy-ageing innovations. This will require collaborative research efforts that draw on expertise from across industry and academia
The challenge is not simply to understand how the gut microbiome influences healthy ageing, but to translate that knowledge into interventions that can be substantiated and communicated with confidence. Stronger evidence linking food ingredients, microbiome changes and validated biomarkers will help manufacturers build more compelling healthy-ageing product propositions and demonstrate tangible benefits long before age-related conditions appear.
That will be particularly important because consumers should start thinking about healthy ageing as early as possible. Many of the biological processes associated with ageing begin decades before symptoms become apparent, so you can’t wait for symptoms before you act. And the sooner you start to act, the bigger the impact on your healthspan – adding life to those later years
