And The Winner of the Most Popular Dietary Supplement Is…

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Consumer Labs recently released its annual survey of popular dietary supplements.  This survey is conducted among their newsletter subscribers.  The sample included over 6,000 respondents and most of them took multiple supplements. So what are the most popular supplements among the people that take supplements? Read more

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What Are Nutraceuticals?

As I was getting ready to post my next article, I realized a short lesson in the difference between nutraceuticals and dietary supplements may be in order.

Okay, I’ll admit it, I didn’t really know the difference myself.

According to the aaps Journal (The American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists):

A nutraceutical is a combination of the words “nutrition” and “pharmaceutical” and refers to “a food (or part of a food) that provides medical or health benefits, including the prevention and/or treatment of a disease.”

Functional Foods

Now we need to know what a “functional food” is. When food is being cooked or prepared using “scientific intelligence” with or without knowledge of how or why it is being used, the food is called “functional food.” Thus, functional food provides the body with the required amount of vitamins, fats, proteins, carbohydrates, etc, needed for its healthy survival.

When functional food aids in the prevention and/or treatment of disease(s) and/or disorder(s) other than anemia, it is called a nutraceutical. Examples of nutraceuticals include fortified dairy products (eg, milk) and citrus fruits (eg, orange juice).

So What Is A Dietary Supplement?

a product (other than tobacco) that is intended to supplement the diet that bears or contains one or more of the following dietary ingredients: a vitamin, a mineral, an herb or other botanical, an amino acid, a dietary substance for use by man to supplement the diet by increasing the total daily intake, or a concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract, or combinations of these ingredients.

intended for ingestion in pill, capsule, tablet, or liquid form.

not represented for use as a conventional food or as the sole item of a meal or diet.

labeled as a “dietary supplement.”

The Important Difference Between Nutraceuticals and Dietary Supplements

Nutraceuticals must not only supplement the diet but should also aid in the prevention and/or treatment of disease and/or disorder.

Nutraceuticals are represented for use as a conventional food or as the sole item of meal or diet.

I highlighted that because it’s an important distinction to note.

In my next article, I’ll be talking about nutraceuticals – and now you’ll understand what they are.

Till then,

The Case For Using Dietary Supplements Just Got Stronger

More news from our friends at VRP (Vitamin Research Products) : Apparently a new study has been released that shows people that take multiple dietary supplements (not just a multivitamin) have better biomarkers of health.

What the heck is a Biomarker?

From the Dictionary: A specific physical trait used to measure or indicate the effects or progress of a disease or condition. For example, individuals were found to have lower levels of triglycerides and higher levels of HDL cholesterol (the good kind).

Who Participated in the Study? 

Both men and women. 278 long-term users of multiple dietary supplements, 176 users of a multivitamin/mineral supplements and 602 non-users of supplements were used to perform this study.  In the multiple supplement group, they each took a multivitamin, B complex, vitamin C, carotenoids, vitamin E, calcium with vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, flavoniods, lecithin alfalfa, coenzyme Q10 with resveratrol, glucosamine, and an herbal immune supplement.

Most of the women in this group also took gamma, linolenic acid and a probiotic supplement.  Most of the men took zinc, garlic, saw palmetto, and a soy protein supplement.

After adjusting a few things, researchers still found that the group who took multiple nutritional supplements had better biomarkers of health than the other two groups.  There were more healthy outcomes for the first group.  They reportedly also had “good or excellent” health status – 74% more often than the non-supplement group.

Researchers also noted that the non-user group and the multivitamin users had numerous nutritional deficiencies.  These included low vitamin C levels.

The researchers agree that the findings should be confirmed by studying supplement usage patterns, heath, and nutritional statuses of various people.

Hey, I've been saying it all along (The Case For Nutritional Supplements). It's good to see more studies done in that area. 

GiGi