The social media during this Covid 19 pandemic have promoted many food products as Immunity Boosters with the claim as Nutraceuticals, safe for use without any prescription from a Registered Medical Practitioner. Let us examine the authenticity of these claims.
Nutraceutical is a new word, invented by Dr. Stephen De Felice in 1989 comprising of two words nutritional and pharmaceutical. These are dietary supplements or functional foods with medical or health benefits which help prevent and treat diseases.
They can be single nutrients like Vitamin C/ Vitamin D or dietary supplements like multiple vitamin/mineral combinations. It may be naturally nutrient-rich or medicinally active food, such as garlic or soybeans, or a specific component of a food, such as omega-3 fish oil derived from salmon and other cold-water fishes. They are generally obtained from herbal products or from processed foods like cereals with iron added or from sports drinks with added electrolytes.
Difference between Nutraceuticals & Dietary supplements
Nutraceutical is a product derived from food sources with extra health benefits in addition to the basic nutritional value found in foods. They are substances that have physiological benefits or provide protection against chronic diseases & are said to be used to improve health, delay the aging process, prevent chronic diseases, increase life expectancy, or support the structure or function of the body.
The U.S. Congress defined dietary supplement in 1994 as a product taken by mouth that contains any chemical ingredient meant to add to what a person gets in their usual diet The dietary ingredients may include vitamins minerals, amino acids, enzymes or organ tissues and herbs or other plant materials. They can b extracts or concentrates, found in many forms such as tablets, capsules, soft gels, gel caos. liquids, or powders.
Mode of action of Nutraceuticals and Dietary supplements
The nutraceuticals work by giving extra nutrition, whenever the diet is not able to meet all the nutrients needed by the body. Illness, injury, or extra hard work can increase the amount of nutrients the body needs. Nutrients are the chemical elements that make up a food and are the basic elements needed for running the show derived from the metabolic process. Certain nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, and proteins give us energy, while others like water, electrolytes, minerals, and vitamins are needed for healthy metabolism that converts the ingested food into tissues and organs of the body. This process help the body make the hormones and other chemical messengers which give signal to the organs to work properly. It is also the way the body cells change chemical energy in nutrients into mechanical energy or heat. Metabolism is the work of cells, fluids, tissues, and organs of the body.
Good health and proper function requires a good diet. It must contain all the elements needed for metabolic process. A person who is climbing a mountain will need to metabolize more than a person sitting at a desk all day. A person who is healing from surgery needs extra nutrition to meet the demands of tissue repair.
Why they are prescribed?
Nutraceuticals are prescribed when a nutritionally complete and healthy diet needed for good health is hard to find. Studies have shown that though the diet has enough calories, it does not have the right amounts of vitamins, minerals, fiber, carbohydrate, or protein which are essential to really be healthy.
Supplemental nutrition is needed because most people do not eat an ideal diet. Over time, the body will show the effects of a less-than perfect diet. Feeling tired or having colds too often are some of the signals of nutritional deficiencies in the body tissues. Regular joint stiffness and body aches can also be signs of decreased nutritional health.
When extra challenges like injury or surgery are faced, nutraceuticals are a quick and reliable way to flood the system with chemical elements. For a short time, we will get all essentials needed to restore, repair, and return to excellent health.
When should be taken?
Nutraceuticals should be taken when the diet does not give all the nutrition needed for the specific situation. For example, a pregnant woman needs to eat more special diet where better nutrition is required for a better outcome, like usage of folic acid to avoid certain birth defects.
Too much of something can be as bad as not enough. A woman who eats too much sugar during pregnancy, can develop a kind of diabetes (gestational diabetes) that will also make her baby sick at birth. It increases the child’s risk of being overweight. The child is also at greater risk of diabetes as an adult.
In the same way, many other situations require better nutrition for a better end result. If there is an injury, more nutrition is needed to give body the raw materials required to rebuild damaged tissues.
During infection, extra dietary an chemistry is required to activate the immune system. Better nutrition helps the immune system fight the virus or bacteria causing the disease.
During a major surgery, essential nutrients are needed for immediate repairing of the injury & for the best possible recovery.
Inflammation is a part of chronic conditions like arthritis and degenerative disc disease which can result in destructive & painful diseases. Inflammation is caused in part by poor nutrition. Correcting the nutritional intake can relieve it.
Osteoporosis is a condition in which bone is weakened because of nutritional deficiency. Taking supplemental minerals and vitamins can help improve the strength of brittle bones.
When a disease state is started, many people cannot eat enough of the right foods and to digest them properly to help. During this stage, extra nutrition is needed to get over an illness. Here, dietary supplements are given to get the needed doses of nutrition in the right amounts for healing the damaged tissue.
When hospitalized, the immune system has to face many extra challenges like self protection from some unusual bacteria and viruses present in the atmosphere, the stress of being away from home and having pain and surgical wounds to heal. The supplements are needed during a surgery to build new red blood cells to excite the immune system to protect and help to recover.
How to assess the efficacy of nutraceuticals ?
Medical researchers have published many research articles on the mechanism of action of individual nutrients and herbal medicines in the bodies of animals and humans. These works are carried out in the same way that drugs are studied. The study protocol also contains the effect of too much or not enough of a specific substance on a large group of people. This includes vitamins or minerals or a certain dietary item like fat. For example, presence of the mineral selenium in the diet of sick people and its effect during infections to cancer with a conclusion that selenium is an important nutrient for protection against disease for all people.
Studies in US have shown that many people do not get enough Vitamin D. More than 90% of people with chronic muscular or skeletal pain, limb pain, and low-back pain lack Vitamin D. When treated with vitamin D supplements there was a considerable reduction in their musculoskeletal pain and inflammation.
Research also reveals that people with the brittle weak bones of osteoporosis can be helped by supplements of minerals and vitamins containing calcium, magnesium, Vitamin D, and L-lysine. These are used to rebuild and restore the strength of their bones.
Studies showed positive results for people with osteoarthritis of the hands, hips, knees, jaw, and lower back, when treated with mineral supplements like Glucosamine sulfate and chondroitin sulfate which can build connective tissue like the cartilage that cushions the joints.
How to select right nutraceutical supplements?
There is no specific method to select the exact single chemical, drug, vitamin, mineral or herb that is going to affect a person’s body. It all depends on how a person digest things and how well their liver and kidneys work makes a difference. No drug or herb is a single, simple chemical item. And no single item, like Vitamin E for instance, can be swallowed by two different people and be digested and absorbed in exactly the same way.
Eating right and adding nutraceuticals will make sure that all the raw materials have been taken. This combination will help to repair everyday wear and tear. It gives the body a much better chance to deal with damage from disease, accidental injuries, or surgery.
A healthy diet and the right nutraceuticals will:
- Help to control chemical irritants inflaming the tissues.
- Reduce nerve pain stimulation
- Decrease tightening and stiffening of muscles, connective tissue, and joints
- Make sure that one has all the raw materials needed to heal a wound or prevent loss of bone or tissue function.
