Dietary supplements are an extremely popular way to maintain the body among people around the world. In many cases, the patient trusts them more than drug treatment, associating the composition of the supplement with natural origin. But since this concept can mean a wide variety of supplements, many of which do not have a therapeutic effect, we need to take a closer look at the classification of dietary supplements and their differences from both drugs and food.
What is this?
BAA, or biologically active additive, is a mixture of certain substances that have (or are supposed to have) beneficial properties and make up for human nutritional deficiencies. The definition and classification of dietary supplements in Russia is carried out by the state structure Rospotrebnadzor. And registration of these additives has been conducted since 1997. The sale of such drugs began even earlier: already in 1985people could purchase the first bioactive supplements.
At present, the number of dietary supplements on the market is growing rapidly, new names, new forms appear, and the scope of food additives is expanding. But even despite this, the difficulties with determining the quality and controlling the turnover of these products contribute to the appearance on the market of low-quality products that do not perform the declared functions.
Negative effects of dietary changes
The nutritional quality of the population around the world is rapidly deteriorating. This is a consequence of not only the deterioration of the environment, but also the appearance in the diet of people of new food, which does not bring to the body a sufficient amount of the substances it needs. In order to replenish the diet with such substances, food supplements are produced, the classification of which directly depends on what effect it is supposed to have with their help.
First of all, in the human environment, the consumption of such specific nutrients as trace elements and unsaturated fatty acids is quite low. This can lead to a huge number of disorders: from problems with memory and attention to disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. Dietary supplements successfully replenish missing nutrients, and they can be used to treat diseases caused by a lack of these substances.
Requirements for food quality
The main requirement for the quality of human nutrition is the usefulness of his diet. This means that the food consumed must completely cover allenergy needs of the body, easy to digest and do no harm in the assimilation process.
It is extremely difficult for an ordinary person to keep track of all the factors, so many people prefer to take a course of dietary supplements so as not to worry about the amount of nutrients consumed. However, you also need to choose your supplements wisely. First of all, you need to find out which type of dietary supplement classification the selected supplement belongs to, and then study it for compliance with the requirements of the legislation and the medical community.
General quality requirements and normative documentation
The main requirements for dietary supplements are set out in the state regulatory documentation. There are a lot of documents regulating the safety and quality of additives, but the main one is SanPin 2.3.2 1078-01 "Hygienic requirements for the safety and nutritional value of food products." According to this document, the supplement must not harm the he alth of the consumer and must contain the declared amount of nutrients.
There is also a document that lists all dietary supplements registered in the country - "Register of products that have passed state registration". The document can be freely studied on the official website of Rospotrebnadzor. In accordance with the Federal Register, the classification of dietary supplements is carried out only by the field of application, and most of them are registered only for sale to the public. As for other distinctive features of different additives, there is no indication in the Register.
Food ormedicine: what are dietary supplements closer to?
It should be noted right away that dietary supplements have never been medicines in full. They are not clinically tested and are tested in the same way that foods are tested.
However, the presence of active ingredients in dietary supplements does not allow us to call them ordinary food products. These are functional supplements, the excessive consumption of which can also harm he alth, like an overdose of drugs.
That is why, regardless of the position of a particular supplement in the classification of dietary supplements, it should be handled with care, consulting a doctor about the use, but not expecting immediate results. Most supplements need to be taken in long courses.
However, many dietary supplements are included in food products. This is done to saturate the products with nutrients and improve their quality. In general, bioactive food supplements can be defined as a cross between food and drug products.
Dietary supplements and legislation of other countries
Most countries recognize the phenomenon of dietary supplements and actively regulate the circulation of additives on their territory. So, in the USA, such funds are accepted by the vast majority of the population; in Germany this figure is more than half of the population; and in Japan, the use of additives is almost universal.
The classification of dietary supplements in these countries is also very different from the approach of the states of the post-Soviet space. For example, in Germany, supplements are strictly nutritional, but according to the regulation onpharmacies, they may be sold in pharmacies along with regular medicines.
How are supplements classified?
The medical community strives to make it easier for both patients and physicians to choose the right dietary supplement. Therefore, a rather conditional, but still applicable, classification of dietary supplements by use was developed, dividing all additives into nutraceuticals and parapharmaceuticals. However, most additives can be successfully attributed to one group or another, and therefore, at the moment, experts are striving to find new classification methods for this large group of goods.
Nutraceuticals
The main function of drugs that are classified as nutraceuticals is to replenish the missing substances in the patient's body. The class of nutraceuticals can have subclasses, which is, in fact, a separate classification of dietary supplements by composition:
- Diet modifiers.
- Sources of minerals.
- Sources of vitamins.
- Sources of polyunsaturated fatty acids and dietary fiber.
All listed subclasses can intersect with each other, and therefore this division is also not strict, and does not require an exact indication of the class on the package. Fish oil is a source of polyunsaturated fatty acids, but some brands fortify it with vitamins, combining several different types of nutrients and several different subclasses.
The main requirements for dietary supplements-nutraceuticals are the requirements for their composition. At the same time, the regulatory authoritiesattention not only to the lack of substances declared on the packaging, but also to their excess. In particular, vitamin complexes have strict restrictions on the dosage of fat-soluble vitamins in the composition of the tablet due to the fact that an excessively high dose can adversely affect the he alth of patients.
Parapharmaceuticals
Parapharmaceuticals are a group of drugs that are primarily used to regulate vital processes in the body. The composition of such dietary supplements includes components that have a positive effect on the patient's body: bioflavonoids, essential oils, organic acids and other active substances.
It is parapharmaceutical dietary supplements that are closest to drugs in terms of their functions in the body. However, they are distinguished from drugs primarily by the content in the composition of natural substances related to food components.
Classification of dietary supplements by purpose distinguishes the following subclasses among parapharmaceuticals:
- Tonic.
- Adaptogenic.
- Immunomodulating.
- Regulators of body functions.
- Sources of natural enzymes.
Requirements for parapharmaceuticals are close in essence to the requirements for drugs. This is not only the control of the dosage that is part of the additive, but also the requirements for the overall toxicological safety of these products. The law does not require any studies of side effects in the case of dietary supplements, on the basis of which it was believed that supplements in general do not havenegative impact on he alth.
Since nutraceuticals and parapharmaceuticals can overlap both in composition and purpose, the classification of dietary supplements is still quite difficult.
