Letter from Paul Jacobson, CEO of Thorne HealthTech, Parent Company of Thorne HealthTech Asia
Healthy aging. Everybody wants it, but few know how to make it a reality.
The desire to live a healthier, longer, more youthful life is an innately human curiosity (perhaps even obsession). In 2022, that’s no different. But today, there is a critical conversation to be had about our perceptions of aging: How do we define it? How do we make it more attainable? More importantly, are our actions actually improving the quality of our health long-term?
Thorne intends to address the feelings of powerlessness and confusion that come with aging. Through credible, rigorous science that underpins our personalized, data-driven solutions, we are laying the foundation to help individuals take the necessary actions to live heathier for longer. Here’s how we’re doing it:
Assuaging “FOGO” (Fear of Getting Old) through Personalized Empowerment
Outdated portrayals of older people as decrepit, haggard, and frail have, put simply, not aged well. Instead, the anti-anti-aging movement is gaining steam. Increasingly, the accumulation of years is valued as a badge of honor, not a mark of shame. Despite this societal shift, most individuals still feel defenseless against the slow churn of time and the inevitable loss of their health. In fact, a survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults found that 87 percent of participants had at least one fear about getting old – such as a decline in physical ability, worry about memory loss, or concern over chronic illness.
Thorne is a brand predicated on the power of the individual. We know that each person already has the information they need – literally, biologically within them – to make more informed, more confident choices about their health. We can unearth and make sense of that information, and make it actionable for you, the individual.
For example, our at-home Biological Age Test analyzes 41 blood markers that assess your rate of aging for your entire body and specific organs, so, for example, you can understand and know how “old” your immune system is compared to the benchmark. And, most important, it's all actionable. You can then follow personalized recommendations to slow or reverse your biological clock and lower your risk for chronic disease. The Biological Age Test is in addition to our eight other at-home tests that also provide unique biomarker results and detailed insights on a consumer’s health to identify potential risks and specific areas of improvement. This is the new frontier of the $4 trillion global wellness market: personalized insights that inspire individual and collective action.
Preventative Solutions for Every Age and Life Stage
Why is this action so urgently needed? Because skyrocketing health-care costs and increasing rates of illness are hugely problematic issues that could be mitigated with an increased focus on disease prevention instead of reactive treatment. We must shift from disease management to disease prevention. Preventative health is not just a wearable device, a behavioral or tracking app, or a cookbook telling you what to eat. It's about delivering trustworthy science that utilizes testing and products that personalize your experience, keep you healthy, and solve health problems that can be addressed naturally.
When it comes to healthy aging, we are not talking about turnkey quick fixes. We are talking about solutions for every stage of life – from adolescence to adulthood to old age. For instance, our exclusive nicotinamide riboside (NR) ingredient, found in our Healthy Aging product suite – including ResveraCel – is a unique form of vitamin B3 that works in every cell to support a number of key cellular processes like cellular energy production, brain function, liver health, and cellular metabolism. Our Healthy Aging suite of supplements help maintain the body’s production of an important coenzyme called NAD+. NAD+ is responsible for making the 30-40 trillion cells in our bodies function properly and its level in the body is depleted as we age.
Thorne’s dedication to our data-driven approach, analysis, and customer experience sets us apart in the healthy aging space. We provide comprehensive ecosystems of testing, interventions through our supplements, and precision medicine-based product development around which individuals can build the foundation of their long-term “wellth” portfolio. What’s more, we are backed by a comprehensive network of collaborators: Thorne is the only supplement manufacturer that collaborates with Mayo Clinic on wellness research, and we are trusted by more than four million customers, 45,000 health professionals, thousands of professional athletes, and hundreds of professional sports teams. Our ecosystem brings the scientific rigor of biotech and pharma to the prevention space to help individuals enter each new era of their life with confidence.
We invite you to join us on this fundamentally human journey, to explore the challenges and foundations for living a healthier life. Aging is scary. Aging is confusing. Aging is often misunderstood. Those are existential qualms that we will never be able to fully get away from. But we can also recognize that aging is also deeply personal – in the best of ways. By embracing the individuality of the experience of growing older – understanding that no two persons’ journeys are the same – we can successfully rewrite the script on aging.
And at just the right time.