Food Supplements
Can a pill a day keep the doctor away?
Taking vitamins and minerals may be part of your daily morning routine, and there are many food supplements on the market. But what are they for and who should take them?
Food or dietary supplements contain ingredients such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, and herbal extracts, which are taken in the form of tablets, capsules, powders, and liquids. They can be bought over the counter in pharmacies, supermarkets, specialist shops and on the internet. Some common food supplements include vitamin D, echinacea, fish oil, and calcium.
Botanicals and preparations made from plants, algae, fungi, or lichens have also become widely available in the EU in the form of food supplements. For example, ginseng, ginkgo, garlic, and St. John’s Wort.
So why do we take food supplements? Some supplements add nutrients and vitamins that may not be consumed enough in the average diet. Others may contribute to reducing the risk factor for a disease. They can be used to maintain general health, support mental and sports-related performance, or provide immune system support. But food supplements are not medicinal products, and their use isn’t intended to treat or prevent disease. In the EU, food supplements are regulated as foods.
Supplements are available in a range of doses, and in different combinations. And certain population groups that are at greater risk of certain nutrient deficiencies may benefit from food supplements, such as women who are pregnant or may become pregnant, infants, people with insufficient exposure to the sun, or vegans, for example.
Food supplements shouldn’t be seen as a substitute for a balanced healthy diet. In fact, most people don’t need food supplements as their diets provide them with all the nutrients they need, except for vitamin D if your sun exposure is limited. Only a certain amount of each nutrient is needed for our bodies to function, and higher amounts are not necessarily better. In fact, in high doses, some substances may have adverse effects and can even become harmful.
EU countries run the market for food supplements nationally. When they have concerns about any of them, we are called on to do a safety assessment.
says Ariane Titz, a nutrition scientist at EFSA.
While many food supplements have a long history of use in Europe, there are some concerns about the safety and quality of some. These include the risk of chemical or microbiological contamination and the need to ensure that concentrations of bioactive agents are within safe limits.
EFSA provides scientific opinions on the safety of a substance if it is intended for use in a food supplement and does not have a history of safe use in the EU before 1997 or if a Member State requests an evaluation.
