View source for 11. Dietary supplements and functional foods

Dietary supplementation

* Definition: A manufactured product intended to supplement the diet when taken by mouth as a pill, capsule, tablet or liquid
* Can provide natural or synthetic nutrients
* $37 billion industry in 2015
* 50% of Americans take dietary supplements
* Common types
** Multivitamins
** Sport nutrition supplements
** Calcium
** B-vitamins
** Vitamin C
** Glucosamine
** Fish oil
** Collagen
** Ginseng
** Glucosamine
** Probiotic
** Folic acid
* Medically indicated uses for dietary supplementation
** Changing diet to treat nutrient deficiencies is always preferred to dietary supplementation
** Folic acid in pregnancy
** Fish oil (omega-3 fatty acids have cardioprotective effect)
** In diseases with malabsorption (Crohn’s, chronic pancreatitis)
* Supplementing nutrients in patients who are not nutrient deficient has no effect!
* A balanced diet eliminates the need for dietary supplement! (which it’s required by law to be written on the nutritional label)
** Dietary supplements can’t make up for poor eating habits
* Food safety
** Most supplements are safe even in case of overdose, but some (like fat-soluble nutrients) are not
** Vitamin K supplementation can impair the function of blood thinners
** St. John’s wort speeds up the metabolism of many drugs, decreasing their effectiveness
** Antioxidants can reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy
** Overdosing iron causes severe intestinal bleeding
** Overdosing vitamin A can cause birth defects

Functional foods

* Definition: Foods that have a potentially positive effect on health beyond providing nutrition
** Claimed to have health-promoting or disease-preventing effects
** Fruits and vegetables are functional foods as they contain molecules that are not nutrients but still beneficial
* Includes
** Fortified foods – foods with nutrients added to them
*** Omega-3 added to butter
*** Vitamin D added to milk
*** Iodine added to salt
*** Probiotics added to yoghurt
** Phytonutrients/phytochemicals = Molecules in fruits and vegetables that are not nutrients or vitamins
*** Lycopene
*** Anthocyanin
*** β-carotene
*** Lutein
** Wild fish
*** Contains omega-3 fats
** Grains
*** Contain dietary fibre

[[Category:Public health 4 - Preventive medicine]]