Abbott looking to meet demand for medical nutrition

Abbott, an Illinois-based healthcare company, is eyeing more market opportunities in the special medical purpose food sector in China, as demand from seniors and patients in recovery is on the rise.

According to Abbott's third quarter report in 2019, its worldwide adult nutrition sales increased 3.9 percent in the third quarter, and international adult nutrition sales increased 7.5 percent on a reported basis. Sales performance in the quarter was led by strong growth of nutrition brand Ensure and diabetes-specific brand Glucerna.

Abbott's nutrition product Ensure is part of the company's first batch of products registered as food for special medical purposes in China this June. Abbott said it can meet the nutritional demands of people over 10 who suffer from diseases including food intake disorder, digestion and absorption obstacles and metabolic disorder, or other similar diseases.

In addition, Abbott has special products for patients with diabetes.

By combining expertise in both the medical and nutritional sciences, this segment offers crucial support to people who need quality nutrition during a period of recovery, according to Abbott.

According to the blueprint of the Healthy China Initiative (2019-2030), there has been a rise in nutrition-related diseases in recent years, and the Health Promotion For the Elderly will be carried out soon.

China is also home to the largest number of seniors in the world. By the end of 2018, the population aged 50 and over reached 249 million, accounting for 17.9 percent of China's total. At present, nearly 180 million elderly people in China suffer from chronic diseases, according to data provided by Abbott.

Among them, the proportion that suffers from one or more chronic diseases is as high as 75 percent. At the same time, the aggravating trend of aging is growing rapidly, so life expectancy might reach 79 by 2030.

In its 2018 report of health care statistics, China's top health authority revealed the number of in-hospital patients reached 250 million that year. It is necessary to provide effective and quality medical nutrition support to this group of patients, as well as old people.