Why all the desire behind longevity?
Wait til you see these supplement stacks
In a few weeks, I’m traveling to Tokyo to speak at a conference for business executives on the topic of longevity and luxury. While I’ve never been to Japan, it certainly has a reputation for being a place where they emphasize quality of life and have mastered longevity as well, with an average life expectancy of 87 for women and 82 for men. (The U.S., in comparison, averages 79.)
So this month, in our BeautyVerse Momentum Tracker, we decided to focus on longevity and wellness with our cultivated community of luxury beauty-buying women.
What we found were quite a few surprises. Longevity beat out all other health-related benefits possible from supplements (such as improved skin, improved nails, improved mood) in terms of desire.
Luxury may seem like a disconnect with health, but women who spend a lot on beauty are really spending a lot on it. Here are some of the supplements most often taken:
There is, in fact, almost an infatuation with learning about adaptogens as well as the usual supplements such as Vitamin D (which we all started taking during Covid).
82% are taking more supplements than they did a few years ago. They told us they find them interesting, especially learning about the benefits. Not surprisingly, TikTok is how the Gen Z component of our BeautyVerse often sees content on supplements (and buys them there) but it’s not the primary method of discovery. Amongst all age cohorts, women are mostly finding information through talking to each other about supplements.
As you can see below, word of mouth ranks higher than any form of media, including podcasts and editorial sources. Higher than recommendations from their doctors.
Community, in fact, is also revealed in this study to be very important to BeautyVerse women. We asked specifically about mental health and what they do to stay grounded and mentally healthy. 9 out of 10 say they highly prioritize actively investing in friendships and community. Out of 8 listed choices of ways to care for their mental health, female friendships are at the top of the list, ahead of exercise and sex.
Another trend of note is how prevalent wearable health trackers have become. One in four of the BeautyVerse owns an Oura ring, and another 45% are considering buying one. 71% use Apple Health to track steps and other cardio measures. This is, again, true across age cohorts. In fact, even Gen Z BeautyVerse women told us they are interested in “femtech” which tracks perimenopausal and menopausal health.
The term “femtech” was coined in 2016 by Ida Tin, co-founder of the period-tracking app Clue, to highlight and legitimize innovation in an often-underfunded and under-researched area of healthcare.
Coincidentally, as I’m writing this newsletter, I received a notification on LinkedIn from my friend and mentor Janet Salazar (head of the venture firm Alphawin Venture Group) about a friend of hers being diagnosed with stage 2/3 breast cancer, with spread to the lymph nodes. It was missed by the mammogram technology currently available. And the technology that would solve for this was in development by the NSF and NIH until funding was stalled.
So until the health needs of women receive equal attention as that of men, we need to keep talking! And connecting, sharing information. Because we all want to enjoy our lives until the end - quality of life longevity.
For more information or to get a copy of the full February BeautyVerse study, please email info@looklook.app.
