My Health Predictions for 2025

With Emphasis on Natural Products, Therapeutics, Societal Needs and Technology

INTRODUCTION

Always timely to assess events and trends at the end of a year, but it is also the right time to prognosticate and share visions of what we face in the upcoming year. Here I outline some thoughts as to where consumers and the natural products industry will interact in the form of business trends, potential clashes and needs, as well as the acquisition of value and knowledge.

Feel free to comment, share and debate. Like all prognostications, there is ample speculation and room for agreement and counter views.

1) The Battle: Science vs a Short Consumer Attention Span

With the solidified consumer behavior reflecting the need to “get the information” in a very short time, we face dilemmas. Not everything is appreciated and understood in a sound bite. These days there is a growing need to avoid words and just use videos and images (AI generated at that), to get your point across. However, what are we missing by avoiding the details, the multitude of factors that define a complex situation that is health and wellness? Superficial assessments are beating nuanced discussions in the eyes of the consumer. Video explanations have value, but the attention span has been reduced from 3 minutes now to 90 seconds.

I fully appreciate that expressing my predictions in this newsletter format I am NOT using the formats that society is gravitating towards. Ironic. However, maybe I am old fashioned in that I feel that explanations and a rationale should be important for any credible any predictions of future events.

PREDICTION: Detailed explanations will be further diminished in value by how many “likes” or “thumbs up” a product or concept has behind. This will lead to further confusion as to the correct course of action and the core problem of manipulation whether it be from people or AI-generated activities.

2) Pandemics and Immunity

Personally I am very concerned about the mutations that are taking place with the H5N1 virus, otherwise known as “Bird Flu”. While scientists are avidly following these events, consumers are largely oblivious. The first recognition of something is wrong may come when eggs are bought from the supermarket. Bird flu is have devastating effects on the poultry industry, but many will not be able to distinguish this from inflationary events as opposed to the ramifications of a new infectious disease.

The CDC has noted that in 2024 there were 66 human cases of Bird Flu arising from contact with infected cattle, poultry, other animals or unknown sources. These human cases have occured over 10 states in the USA. In animals the fatality rate is disturbing.

Poultry, in part because of the close quarters that they are raised in, are particularly affected. There have been outbreaks in 50 states with 127.6 million poultry infected. These are scary numbers when one considers that there is ample opportunity to cross over into the human population (The CDC & H5N1, Bird Flu).

Now I fully appreciate that society has tried to block out their the collective memory the devastation of the COVID pandemic. This includes disruptions to societal behavior as well as the massive death toll. Anyone else had to endure multiple ZOOM FUNERALS during the COVID pandemic like I did? Masks, limited travel, confinements, supply chain disruptions are all sources of angst and debate. Issues that we willingly like to file away and not think about.

In terms of health management, there was a rush to acquire certain natural products that could provide protection or reduce the lethality of COVID. Examples include zinc and berries, especially elderberry. The latter was then subject to economic adulteration that comes when consumer demands exceeds the supply chain.

This begs the question as to how will the natural products industry and preventative medicine handle a potential Bird Flu pandemic, if it arises? Will we move onto other ingredients for support? Will it be mushroom extracts? What about other berries? How about microbiome support with probiotics and prebiotics? Knowing that with influenza and the COVID infections that lethality has a primary cause of friendly fire from the enhanced immune response, will we upgrade out approach to achieve BALANCE & TARGETING to the IMMUNE RESPONSE, rather than the misguided, simplistic approach of “Boost the Immune System” to combat the infection?

PREDICTION: I suspect that a H5N1 viral based pandemic will occur in 2025, the magnitude of which I do not know. Further, given the politics around vaccines, and misinformation as to how to manage the immune response to infection, I also predict that we, as a society, will not handle it well. Hard lessons have not been learned.

3) Obesity, Diabetes and GLP-1

History has shown us that when a major breakthrough imminates from the pharmaceutical industry the natural products industry likes to ride the wave of innovation. In the case of GLP-1 mimics for diabetes and obesity (and related disorders), the natural products industry has rapidly found a niche that is quite valuable for society. The pharmaceutical approach of GLP-1 mimics that unlike the human hormone have limited metabolic degradation that underlies their effectiveness but also their litany of consequences and adverse events (during and upon cessation). By contrast, the natural products industry approach is kinder and gentler. It enhances the body’s own production of GLP-1 in response to food. By elevating, but not replacing, the natural levels of GLP-1 natural products offer a similar result in terms of weight and blood glucose management, but without the magnitude of adverse events.

In essence, the optimization of endogenous GLP-1 levels by natural products corrects the core dysfunction that epitomizes the obesity epidemic we currently face.

Certain botanicals have been shown to be particularly effective in this action (Metabolaid & GLP-1) but in addition we know that the microbiome plays an important role as well. Part of the actions associated with correcting a dysfunctional microbiome, a state called a dysbiosis, is through the generation of short chain fatty acids that directly stimulate the gut to release GLP-1 (SCFA & Satiety).

Certain bacteria, ones that are associated with overall health and longevity like Akkermansia muciniphilia, are elevated by botanicals that elicit satiety, and manage the presentations of obesity and diabetes. This represents a long term solution to the problem that is quite different from the pharmaceutical approach, in that the goal is to restore balance to the control systems that regulate satiety/hunger and glucose metabolism.

PREDICTION: Unlike some of the previous “me too” approaches that the natural products industry has used when riding the coat tails of of pharmaceuticals, I have confidence that in the case of elevating endogenous GLP-1 production, that natural products approaches will be given a lot of respect and interest from society.

4. When the MICROBIOME meets the METABOLOME

Massive advances have occurred recently in regard to our knowledge of the diversity, importance and commercial viability of health approaches centered on the microbiome. One aspect that has surprised many is the science of postbiotics. These are the myriad of biochemicals that are created when our gut microbiome (bacteria, yeasts) metabolize ingested nutrients, and these metabolic end products are then absorbed and impact how the the body works. I have eluded to SCFAs (short chain fatty acids) as the prototypical end products from carbohydrate metabolism by bacteria, and how this may affect GLP-1 responses. However, this is truly reflects just the doorway to an entirely new concept of postbiotics.

Indeed, many of the biochemicals that the microbiome generates do not have classical names - there are so many and they are so diverse. That in of itself is a problem. Hard to give the appropriate accolades when you do not have names.

The solution lies in another field of science that I dabbled with some 15 years ago, the world of metabolomics. This where advanced technology quantifies and defines the world of biochemicals created during metabolism. Fifteen years ago this was expensive research, but now, with advances, it is in reach to help us address fundamental questions.

Metabolomics opens up a whole new world that interfaces nutrition, microbiomics and therapeutics.

By measuring the metabolome, especially in the context of the microbiome, we can massively advance our knowledge of how diet, microbiome and metabolism can be leveraged to create innovative, effective therapeutic products. It is economically viable for not only research but for savvy commercial entities looking to establish a unique approach to health.

PREDICTION: The microbiome and metabolome interface will become a disruptive force in the therapeutics of wellness.

5. Move over MLMs here comes Social Influencers

The MLM industry has developed into a multibillion dollar commercial format over the recent decades. However, revenues, at least in the health sector, are down over 50-75% in the last few years. WHY? The events of the pandemic, limiting social interactions, combined with changes in social media and the technology-assisted communications represent the core drivers for these events. People interact and exchange opinions and revelations quite differently now. That is not changing.

For health and wellness companies that operate within the MLM format must adapt or lose it all. While this impacts compensation plans, social selling with emphasis on influencers are going to dominate. Education as to the benefits of a product will be replaced by the number of 5 star reviews.

That is reality we face, and companies need to adapt to these changing times. How one maintains credibility and confidence within this environment is tricky. Some will adapt well, others will fail. Influencers combined with the ease of e-commerce will dominate. Given that MLMs have been a vital part of the natural product industry for decades, the uncertainty is how the overall industry will be affected in 2025 and beyond.

PREDICTION: MLM companies will display an abundance of bankruptcies and be replaced by groups that adapt to societal changes.

For those interested in my background here is a lnk to my DOT business card (DOT Business Card Dr. Mark JS Miller)