Recently, the "sudden death prevention package" has become popular online, with health supplements such as lutein, fish oil, and coenzyme Q10 appearing frequently in the diet of young people and even becoming a trend.

We always urge the elderly not to be obsessed with health products.

But when grape seeds, probiotics, fish oil, resveratrol, vitamins... are concentrated into high-tech pills and capsules that are being poured into the mouths, it is only then that the once despised "health products" are occupying the shopping carts of young people in a completely new way.

Data proves everything the most. According to data from Dingdang Health Research Institute, over 70% of people born in the 1980s and 1990s have health awareness. Among the buyers of nutritional and health products, those born in the 1990s account for 25.01%, and the proportion of those who use health products for a long time is as high as 21.9%.

Alipay and Alibaba Health released a set of data reports, which also showed that after 1995, it became the largest consumer group, accounting for 40% of the users of Alipay medical health services.

Eating at least six types of health supplements a day has become a norm for modern young people. Wang Yi, who has just entered the workforce, summarized his daily maintenance routine by taking one calcium tablet with breakfast to supplement calcium; Brew a cup of VC effervescent tablets for lunch to supplement vitamin C; In the afternoon, come back with a small package of Coenzyme Q10 comprehensive nutrition package to supplement various nutrients; When sleeping, drinking a glass of milk with melatonin is the key to getting through the long night with peace of mind.

Perhaps even parents didn't expect that their children would be so wild when they started taking health supplements!

Of course, compared to the inexplicable health supplements taken by the elderly, dietary supplements wrapped in technological content and clinical trial data are more convincing to young people.

But are these types of health products really that miraculous?

Young people nowadays love health products very much

The ideal state that countless people dream of, such as "retaining youthfulness", "cultivating youthful appearance", "easily consuming fat", and "generating collagen", only requires a small package of health products. Will you be tempted?

Huang Wei has been working for two years and is still in her youthful and beautiful age, but she says she is very anxious. "It is said that girls will accelerate aging after the age of 25." She feels that every day she lives, her physical condition is gradually deteriorating. After sitting for a long time, her back and waist ache, staring at the computer for a long time, her eyes ache, and her skin begins to darken. Every morning, she can only sigh in front of the mirror and "my friends around me advise me to get up early

Afterwards, natural vitamin C, natural beta carotene soft capsules, deep-sea fish oil, cranberry capsules, grape seed capsules, and women's multivitamin tablets appeared in her daily diet catalog. Recently, I heard that coenzyme Q10 is helpful for the immune system, so I need to buy it online quickly, "said Huang Wei. She works overtime every day, plays with her phone, stays up late at night, eats the least amount of food for her slim figure, and eats the most health supplements for her health.

She is a microcosm of millions of young people: doing the most harmful things to the body and eating the most health supplements.

The "China Better Life Survey" jointly initiated by CCTV, the National Bureau of Statistics, and China Post shows that in 2023, the top three consumption categories for young people aged 18-35 are tourism (32.77%), digital products such as computers and mobile phones (31.67%), and health and wellness (31.04%).

According to a survey conducted by Kurun Data, among the post-90s generation who purchase health and wellness products, they generally eat 2-3 types of health and wellness products every day, with over 70% spending more than 200 yuan per month.

According to the "2022 Family Nutrition Fourth Meal Consumption Trend Insight", with the increasing awareness of health, the health and nutrition needs of young people are evolving into multiple scenarios. In different scenarios, young people are also showing a trend of refinement in the subdivision of health and nutrition products. In the workplace, they prefer vitamins, and in daily life, the proportion of dietary fiber is the highest. In the context of exercise and weight loss, elements such as calcium, iron, and zinc are most popular.

39 Deep Breath saw on several well-known e-commerce platforms in China that there are a wide variety of health products with hot sales. Among them, the top ranked health product brands such as Weishi, Fangke, Tonson Beijian, Bishuanyuan, and Kangenbei are favored by young consumers, with prices ranging from tens to hundreds of yuan.

Under the birth of sub-health, a trillion dollar healthcare empire has been built

Health supplements, also known as "health foods," are called dietary supplements in the United States and food supplements in the European Union. Unlike drugs that have many review restrictions and are generally only purchased when sick, the policies for health supplements are relatively relaxed, allowing them to be taken even if they are not sick.

The nature of health products coincides perfectly with "sub-health".

Sub healthy refers to a critical state of non illness and non health, which is a secondary state of health between health and disease. People in a sub healthy state may not have a clear disease, but they may have abnormal vital signs or decreased mental vitality and adaptability. If this state is not corrected in a timely manner, it can easily lead to physical and mental illnesses.

Pang Guofang, academician of the CAE Member and chief scientist of China's import and export inspection and quarantine, said in an interview with the media, "At present, 76% of our people are in a sub-health state."

Health product manufacturers, advertisers, and other parties seized the opportunity to solve sub-health conditions with health products, and the market for health food continued to expand, successfully growing into a highly anticipated billion dollar market.

In addition to the tireless efforts of individual healthcare product manufacturers and advertisers, the external environment has also become a booster.

On the one hand, the subsequent air pollution, drinking water pollution, decoration pollution, as well as the abuse of gutter oil, hormone meat, antibiotics... The deteriorating external environment provides opportunities for health products to take advantage of.

On the other hand, there is an overwhelming emphasis on "youth," "beauty," and "handsomeness," and countless messages generated by various businesses and media constantly remind us that beauty means youth, thinness, vitality, and high status. If it is not beautiful, it may be eliminated by society.

As a result, more and more people are becoming the target of health product manufacturers.

90s generation: the most health anxious generation

According to common sense, the elderly who are most susceptible to illness should be the most affected. However, according to the 2020 National Health Insights Report by Dingxiang Doctor, among the pre -, post-70s, post-80s, post-90s, and post-00s age groups, the post-90s and post-00s have high expectations for health but significantly lower self-rated health scores than other generations, making them the most anxious group about their own health status at present.

But what are these young people really anxious about?

According to the "Post-90s Health Diary" released by Ipsos, emotional health (26%), body management (22%), and sleep improvement (14%) are the top three health demands of the post-90s generation.

In the "Trend Report on Health Consumption among Young People" released by CBNData earlier, it was mentioned that more than half of the "post-90s" generation in China suffer from hair loss, hair loss, and weakened vision. At the same time, about 40% have obesity, decreased exercise ability, and 30% have weakened immunity.

As a result, on one hand, it is difficult to give up many unhealthy habits such as staying up late, irregular high oil and high salt diets, and prolonged exposure to electronic products due to the enormous pressure of life and work; On the other hand, the increasing awareness of health management due to the rapid dissemination of health knowledge has become a health anxiety that is sweeping across the younger generation.

As a result, health consumption has gradually become a normalized demand for more and more young people, driving the health product market to shift towards youthfulness.

Has your body really improved?

Enhancing immunity, antioxidation, helping bone growth, and boosting brain vitality, these health product titles seem to be essential for young consumers. There are also eye-catching advertisements accompanied by so-called scientific data, real cases, dialogue screenshots, videos, and even recommendations from celebrities and famous doctors.

But has the body really improved after use?

At least from a medical perspective, health supplements do not have such miraculous effects! Associate Professor Zhu Yi from the School of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering at China Agricultural University once said in a media interview that even if a lot of time and money are spent on testing, the results cannot directly prove the inevitable causal relationship between these health products and human health.

In addition, many experts have stated that excessive supplementation of a certain so-called health product or element that the human body needs can cause certain damage to the liver and kidney functions of the body. Some people may experience vomiting, dizziness, and even blindness, bleeding, and more seriously.

Industry insiders have revealed that young people can take health supplements, but if their daily diet is balanced, it is not recommended to supplement them extra, otherwise overconsumption will disrupt the balance of the body's mechanisms.

In April 2005, the State Food and Drug Administration issued the "Measures for the Registration and Management of Health Food (Trial)", which clearly defined health food as food that claims to have specific health functions or is intended to supplement vitamins and minerals. Emphasize that it is a food suitable for specific populations.

Nowadays, the health product market is experiencing a "whirlwind" among young people. When something becomes a trend, we should be even more vigilant. The young population of health products still has uncertain factors, so the risks they pose are also unknown.

In the face of these uncertainties, do not put the chips of health on health products.