Stratum Resource post, Could Ten Minutes of Daily Exercise Help Prevent Death?

A recent release of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), approved by the National Center for Health Statistics Ethics Review Board, found that approximately 110,000 deaths per year could be prevented if US adults aged 40 to 85 years or older increased their daily activity by a small amount (i.e. 10 minutes per day). The findings were published on January 22, 2022 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).  

“We know exercise is good for us. This study provides additional evidence of the benefits at the population level: if all adults in the United States (over age 40) were to exercise just a bit more each day, a large number of deaths could be prevented each year,” said Pedro Saint-Maurice, the study’s first author and an epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute.  

The study used accelerator data the NHANES recorded from participants ages 6 and older between 2003 and 2006. Researchers then looked at activity levels of nearly 5,000 participants ages 40 to 85 and tracked death rates through the end of 2015.  

Although the number of prevented deaths is an estimate, it “is a valid approach since it would be almost impossible to conduct an actual human trial to manipulate people’s activity levels and look at long term outcomes like death,” said Peter Katzmarzyk, professor of pediatric obesity and associated executive director for population and public health sciences at Louisiana State University’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center.   

One of the main reasons consumers stop exercising is due to pain. What can the dietary supplement industry do to help combat this problem? 

Formulating to Help Life Longevity  

Formulators have the opportunity to help consumers stay active for longer by simply formulating with a joint health ingredient like our branded eggshell membrane ingredient, NEM®.  

A 2020 survey by FMGG Gurus indicated that six in ten global consumers looked to improve their overall health and had exercised more in the past two years. This has opened the bone/joint supplement category to experience continued growth in the years ahead.  

There are several factors that influence formulators when developing bone-support formulas.  Following multi-vitamin and mineral products, bone support supplements have probably the longest history of use in the dietary supplement industry.  Most of these products still focus on calcium content because of its known relationship to bone health and the bulk of research demonstrating a benefit from calcium supplementation.   

The use of biomarkers to objectively determine the effects of a dietary supplement ingredient provides an additional level of confidence in the potential benefits derived from that ingredient.  The research on NEM®, Stratum Nutrition’s branded eggshell membrane ingredient, has incorporated such biomarkers to substantiate the benefits of NEM in protecting cartilage from degradation associated with exercise.  Evaluations of pain and stiffness have traditionally been the main criteria used to determine the effectiveness of supplements designed to improve joint health.  The use of an objective biomarker associated with cartilage breakdown further supports NEM’s already substantiated benefits to joint health. Research that demonstrates protection and preservation of a part of the body that is often susceptible to long-term repercussions of exercise stress is a major departure from the short-term benefits that are often seen.  

By formulating your next product with NEM, you may be able to help keep your consumers living longer, healthier lives.   

For more information about NEM®, please contact us.  

Like NEM®, we would like to help you every step of the way.