Nutraceuticals are growing in their popularity. What are they and what are the reasons driving their growth?

1. *
Understanding what Nutraceuticals are and
what’s behind their growth

2. * Stephen DeFelice, MD, created the word
'nutraceutical' by combining 'nutrition' and
'pharmaceutical’
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3. * Refers to a food – or part of a food – that is
deemed to offer health and medical benefits
* Includes treatment and prevention of illnesses
* Includes dietary supplements, isolated
nutrients, genetically engineered designer
foods, processed foods, herbal products, etc.
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4. * Expanded by Health Canada to also refer to a
product derived from food but sold as medicine
for physiological benefits or as protection from
chronic diseases
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5. * The rising costs of medical treatment
* Consumer demands are changing
* want better preventive therapies for chronic
diseases, more individualized medical care, and
helpful solutions to address the effects of aging
* The increased interest in healthy living
contributes to growing desire for preventive
therapies and natural cures
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6. * $86 billion estimated value of nutraceutical
industry in the United States
* Industry is even bigger in Europe and Japan
*

7. * Most people believe nutraceuticals offer
benefits on a par with those provided by
pharmaceutical drugs but without the side
effects
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8. * Benefit claims such as cartilage and joint
health, improved cholesterol levels, healthy
lung functions, relief from
absentmindedness, and reduction in stress.
*

9. * Dietary supplements with botanicals include
minerals, vitamins, carnitine, co-enzyme Q and
ginseng, among numerous others
* Functional foods include bran, oats, lignin and
psyllium. Additionally, there are the probiotics,
omega-3 acids, medicinal foods and genetically
engineered foods.
*

10. * Medical experts and regulatory authorities are
concerned that certified nutraceuticals are still rare
in the market
* Most raw materials used for the manufacture of
nutraceuticals are imported and therefore offer no
quality control
* Not much data available on how the herbal and
botanical ingredients – that go into the manufacture
of nutraceuticals – are produced
* Nutraceuticals clearly affect physiology but they are
not submitted to a testing process as rigorously as
pharmaceutical drugs
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11. * Pharmaceutical compliance resource website:
* http://compliance-insight1.com/
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