The result, one of a number of findings taken from the Stada Health Report, also outlines consumer opinions on nutrition, exercise and healthy ageing, as the region faces an increasingly elderly population.
“There are various other factors which will have an immediate impact on our health in the future,” says Peter Goldschmidt, CEO of German pharmaceuticals firm Stada.
“A widespread increase in diseases, especially psychological ones, the movement towards healthier, vegetarian or even vegan diets, personalised medical care, and many more.
“It is hard to imagine a topic that will dominate the future more than that of our health,” he adds.
“I thus call on all actors in the health sector to aid in the endeavour of expanding public health knowledge.”
Kantar Health help
Stada’s fifth annual report, carried out by consultancy and market research agency Kantar Health, was conducted as part of an online study from November until December 2018 in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Spain and the United Kingdom.
The sample group consisted of 18,010 respondents aged between 18 and 99, representative for the features “gender”, “region” and “age”. Approximately 2,000 people per country were thus assessed.
Further results for the vitamin and nutritional supplement habits of Europeans, found Poland to be Europe’s forerunner in terms of supplement consumption with four out of ten people taking them regularly.
The survey believed this result stemmed from a fear of old age. Out of all nationalities surveyed, none feared the process more than the Polish with 67% of them are afraid of getting older in comparison to the European average of 55%.
“The most common concern is becoming dependent on others in old age,” the survey noted, “Polish people are also particularly scared of bodily decay."
The findings correlate well with findings from another report, which focused on the nutritional habits of the Poles. According to The PAP Press Center, a report by Polish supplement firm Cheers, found more than 70% of Poles take dietary supplements, with over 50% taking them every day.
Financial and business website, Bankier.pl state that in 2018, the value of the Polish market exceeded €1bn (PLN4.5bn) with predictions of the market’s value set to reach €1.2bn (PLN5bn) in 2020.
Fitness envy
Stada’s survey also believed those living in Poland strived to be fitter and better looking than their fellow countrymen and women, whom they tend to envy a lot: 66% openly admitted this to be true.
The survey also found 64% of respondents knew what probiotics were with 82% of those living in Russia recognising what these live microorganisms were.
Further results pointed to the adoption of a healthy lifestyle as high on the agenda with 59% of respondents cooking daily fresh meals.
In addition, 54% claimed to eat healthy in general with a further 53% of Europeans considered exercise as an integral part of a healthy lifestyle.
The survey concluded by saying that aside from occasional spells of apprehension towards more invasive and digital advancements in medicine, Europeans generally kept an open mind on health-related matters of the future.
It added that the most important task for the medical sector would be to address the concerns that remain, so that the whole of Europe can look to the future of health with confidence.
“The future of health is data driven,” said trend scout Sven Gábor Jánszky. “That’s not a secret since real-time data measurement is already available and used for a variety of causes all around the world.
“Optimising medicine and the human body by using technology is the most promising business in terms of human impact and business profit. Exactly this is to be predicted by 2025.”
