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THE PHARMA REVIEW
FEBRUARY 06
Nutraceuticals: Borderline
Between Food and Drugs?
R.K. Rishi
Hippocrates highlighted around 2000 years ago "Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food". Various nutrientional substances in the diet play a crucial role in maintaining an "optimal" immunological response, such that deficient or excessive intakes can have negative consequences on the individual's immune status and susceptibility to a variety of disease conditions. Widespread interest in the possibility that selected foods or their derivatives might promote health has resulted in the coining of the term nutraceutical. The ability of specific foods to prevent or reduce the severity of symptoms arising from what are now frequently recognized as nutritional inadequacies has been reported in a variety of historical documents. Some dietary components may not be required for human nutritional needs, but may markedly influence the quality of life by modifying one or more physiological processes. This ability of foods depends upon several factors such as interactions with other constituents in the overall diet and physiologic state, behavioural pattern and genetic makeup of the individual who is consuming it. People all over the world are now becoming increasingly convinced that the foods they consume can not only modulate performance, but also influence their risk of acquiring a variety of diseases. Therefore, people must be provided with adequate information necessary to make informed decisions as to whether they should adjust their intake of specific foods and their associated components. Unlike the case with drugs and pharmaceuticals, it is generally thought that increased consumption of foods and their constituents is safe and that any response will be associated with a reduction in risk rather than with a cure or treatment. Since toxicity is a function of the quantity consumed, it is inappropriate to consider that the consumption of nutraceuticals as being without some degree of risk. To assess the relative merits and concerns about this issue, some scientific agreement is required. It is, therefore, appropriate to define and classify nutraceuticals and conduct research to establish their efficacy and safety in health and illness. The above content is an abstract only. For the full Article please contact: |
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