Abbott blesses health market

Abbott Vietnam recently released nutritional health supplements for the elderly

Abbott Vietnam last week introduced its oral nutritional supplement EnsureGold Acti M2, which offers a complete, balanced solutions for short-term memory and brain health among aging adults.

“As a global leader in health and nutrition, Abbott Vietnam developed Ensure Gold Acti M2 to help adults maintain their brain health for an active life as they age,” said Jullian Caillet, general director of Abbott Nutrition Vietnam Company.

According to the World Health Organization, nutrition, along with exercise and other lifestyle factors, may help in maintaining cognitive health, mental sharpness and short-term memory as adults’ age. Maintaining cognitive health is especially important as average life expectancy in Vietnam has increased from 67 in 1990 to 75 in 2011, an improvement which has also seen a rise in mild cognitive decline and advanced forms of cognitive disorders. Mild cognitive decline, which can include forgetfulness, short-term memory loss, slower learning, difficulties in concentrating and trouble in problem solving, is a gradual and expected part of the normal aging process that affects most adults over the age of 50. Only one per cent of adults experience virtually no cognitive decline over their lifespan.

Abbott’s new oral nutritional supplement combines the trusted nutrition of ENSURE®Gold with ingredients such as Acti-SPS (soy phosphatidlyserine, which is also known as soy-PS) and choline for short-term memory and brain health.

Some studies have shown cognitive benefits, such as supporting short-term memory, with consumption of 100-300 mg/day of soy-PS for three continous months. ENSURE® Acti M2 provides 50 mg soy-PS per serving (and 74 mg choline) with a recommended two servings per day.

Caillet said more Abbott’s nutritional supplement products would continue being marketed in Vietnam in the coming time.

According to the National Nutrition Institute, many companies had targeted Vietnam because of the country’s rising demand for nutritional supplements inspired by an aging population combined with historically high levels of malnutrition. The General Statistics Office reported the elderly would account for 10 per cent of Vietnam’s total population by 2017, up from a current 8 per cent. Vietnam’s population would officially embark on an aging stage by 2017.

According to Vietnam Association for Dietary Supplements, nutritional supplements first appeared in Vietnam about 10 years ago. Now the country is home to 1,554 local and foreign firms producing and importing nearly 2,000 products. Some 52 per cent of the products are foreign made.

The association’s chairman Tran Dang said the rate would likely rise to 65-70 per cent over the next few years because many local enterprises with outmoded technology would end operations due to economic difficulties.

“Vietnam’s nutritional supplement market has grown annually by about 25 per cent. Foreign firms are gradually controlling the market due to their edge in modern technology,”

Dang said.