Nutraceuticals

Nutraceuticals

The term Nutraceuticals is a  hybrid or contraction of nutrition and pharmaceuticals. Nutraceuticals are products derived from food sources that are purported to provide additional health benefits, in addition to the basic nutritional value found in foods. It is classified into two:

a.       Dietary supplements

b.      Functional foods

a. Dietary supplements

A product 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 used by man to supplement the diet by increasing the total dietary intake or

·         a concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract, or combination of any ingredient described above.

Dietary supplements are further defined as products that are labeled as dietary supplements and are not represented for use as a conventional food or as a sole item of a meal or the diet. Supplements can be marketed for ingestion in a variety of dosage forms including capsule, powder, softgel, gelcap, tablet, liquid, or indeed, any other form. Eg. Multi-vitamin capsules.

b. Functional foods

Functional foods are fortified or enriched during processing and then marketed as providing some benefit to consumers. Sometimes, additional complementary nutrients are added, such as Vitamin D to milk. Functional foods are “Ordinary food that has components or ingredients added to give it a specißc medical or physiological beneßt, other than a purely nutritional e$ect.” All functional foods must meet three established requirements: Foods should be

·         present in their naturally occurring form, rather than a capsule, tablet, or powder

·         consumed in the diet as often as daily and

·         should regulate a biological process in hopes of preventing or controlling disease.