Lucille Health is a nutrition startup founded by Jess Haghani that launched ready-to-drink shakes for older adults, featuring higher protein, five grams of fiber and a cleaner ingredient list than many legacy nutrition products. Haghani created the company after seeing her grandmother receive heavily processed nutritional drinks following heart surgery and worked with researchers from the Harvard Chan School of Public Health and industry food scientists to develop the formulations.
The brand currently offers vanilla and chocolate high-protein shakes produced with support from a specialized beverage R&D facility in Chicago. Lucille, Haghani’s 92-year-old grandmother and the company’s namesake, remains an active product tester and customer, providing feedback on everything from flavor profiles to packaging details. As the company grows, Haghani plans to expand beyond shakes into a broader portfolio of products designed for older adults.
The launch targets an underserved segment of the nutrition market, where innovation focused on aging consumers remains limited despite a rapidly growing senior population.
Better-For-Older Shakes
Lucille Health Introduced Its Ready-To-Drink Shakes
Trend Themes
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Senior-focused Nutrition — A growing older population is creating white space for foods designed around age-related protein needs, digestion, taste preferences, and everyday convenience.
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Clean-label Clinical Nutrition — Cleaner formulations in recovery and maintenance nutrition are challenging legacy processed products with simpler ingredients and more lifestyle-oriented positioning.
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Personalized Aging Wellness — Research-backed products tailored to seniors reflect a shift from generalized health claims toward nutrition that supports independence, recovery, and long-term vitality.
Industry Implications
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Functional Beverages — Ready-to-drink formats give functional beverage companies a path to serve seniors with portable protein, fiber, and condition-conscious formulations.
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Senior Care — Nutrition products embedded into home care, assisted living, and post-surgery routines expand senior care beyond services into branded daily wellness ecosystems.
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Food Technology — Specialized beverage R&D and formulation science are enabling better taste, texture, and nutrient density for populations historically served by institutional products.