Nutraceutical, a portmanteau of nutrition and pharmaceutical, refers to extracts of foods claimed to have a medicinal effect on human health. The nutraceutical is usually contained in a medicinal format such as a capsule, tablet or powder in a prescribed dose.

More rigorously, nutraceutical implies that the extract or food is demonstrated to have a physiological benefit or provide protection against a chronic disease^[1].

Functional foods are defined as being consumed as part of a usual diet but are demonstrated to have physiological benefits and/or reduce the risk of chronic disease beyond basic nutritional functions.

Examples of claims made for nutraceuticals are resveratrol from red grape products as an antioxidant, soluble dietary fiber products, such as psyllium seed husk for reducing hypercholesterolemia, broccoli (sulforaphane) as a cancer preventative, and soy or clover (isoflavonoids) to improve arterial health. Such claims are being researched and many citations are available via PubMed to ascertain their foundation of basic research.

However, among the above examples, only the effect provided by psyllium as a fiber product has been sufficiently documented in human clinical trials to receive approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration for health claim statements on product labels.

Other nutraceutical examples are flavonoids antioxidants, alpha-linolenic acid from flax seeds, beta-carotene from marigold petals, anthocyanins from berries, etc. With the US Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), several other compounds were added to the list of supplements originally mentioned in FDA notification. Thus, many botanical and herbal extracts such as ginseng, garlic oil, etc. have been developed as nutraceuticals.

Nutraceuticals are often used in nutrient premixes or nutrient systems in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Very few of these products, however, have sufficient scientific evidence proving health benefits to consumers. Consequently, few have FDA approval for making health claims on product labels.

See also

• Health claims on food labels
• Dietary supplements
• Nutrification (aka food enrichment or fortification).
• Food supplements
• Food additive
• Food fortification
• Dietary supplement
• Food processing

References

1. ↑ Health Canada, Policy Paper on Nutraceuticals/Functional Foods and Health Claims on Foods, 2002 http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/label-etiquet/nutrition/claims-reclam/nutra-funct_foods-nutra-fonct_aliment_e.html

External links

• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals, 2007
• American Nutraceutical Association
• National Nutritional Foods Association
• US FDA/CFSAN - Dietary Supplements
• Nestle, Marion. Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002

pl:Nutraceutyk pt:Nutracêutica