Supplements for Health and Wellbeing
A dietary supplement, also known as food supplement or nutritional supplement, is a preparation intended to supply nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, fatty acids or amino acids, that are missing or are not consumed in sufficient quantity in a person's diet.
Some countries define dietary supplements as foods, while in others they are defined as drugs. The hormones DHEA (a steroid), pregnenolone (also a steroid) and the pineal hormone melatonin are marketed as dietary supplements in the US.
Food fortification is the public health policy of adding micronutrients - essential trace elements and vitamins - to foodstuffs to ensure that minimum dietary requirements are met as simple diets based on staple foods with little variation are often deficient in certain nutrients.
Several ranges of food supplements are recognised:
- Additives which repair a deficit to "normal" levels.
- Additives which appear to enhance a food.
- Supplements taken in addition to the normal diet.
There are several main groups of food supplements which can be considered:
- Vitamins and co-vitamins
- Essential minerals
- Essential fatty acids
- Essential amino acids
- Glyconutrients
- Phytonutrients
In the United States, a dietary supplement is defined under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act as a product intended to supplement the diet and contains any of the following dietary ingredients:
- A vitamin
- A mineral
- A herb or other botanical (excluding tobacco)
- An amino acid
- A dietary substance for use by people to supplement the diet by increasing the total dietary intake
- A concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract, or combination of any of the above
Furthermore, it must also conform to the following criteria:
- Intended for ingestion in pill, capsule, tablet, powder or liquid form
- Not represented for use as a conventional food or as the sole item of a meal or diet
- Be labeled as a "dietary supplement"
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