Pfizer Inc. (PFE), Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (BMY), and Alzheimer’s Milkshakes: The Growth of Medical Nutrition

The Fast Growing Market

It is estimated that the global medical nutrition market in 2012 was $27.2 billion. Current projections indicate that the market will grow tremendously in just a short few years. 2013 estimates for the market see it growing to $28.2 billion, with 2018 estimates expected to hit over $40 billion globally.

Today the largest markets for medical nutrition are North America, followed by Western Europe. Among those regions, the United States, United Kingdom and Germany are seen as the primary drivers with their increasingly overweight populations. Another driver is the growing elderly populations and increased instances of the various medical conditions that unfortunately come with the aging process.

Asia, particularly India and China, is also seen as a driver of growth, but for an entirely different reason. For these countries the medical need is for prenatal and newborn medical nutrition products, addressing the concerns expecting mothers have for their unborn children. In these countries premature births are on the rise, with two of the many contributing factors being preexisting chronic medical conditions of the mother and malnutrition of the unborn child. In India annually, 13.3% of all births are premature, of which about 8.5% very sadly result in the death of the child (the latter being the highest percentage of any country on record).

Foolish Bottom Line Whether it is premature births, obesity-related conditions such as diabetes, or Alzheimer’s and other neurological disorders, there is a definite medical need here that requires addressing. Traditional foods and medicines will of course play their part in addressing that need, as well as the blurring of the two, medical nutrition.

The article Alzheimer’s Milkshakes and the Growth of Medical Nutrition originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Matthew Luke.

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