ROMA (ITALPRESS) – Nuraceutica is a scientific discipline that studies the bioactive components of foods and their beneficial effects on health, with the aim of preventing or supporting the care of certain diseases and side by side with medical therapy: the term is born from the union of nutrition and pharmaceuticals and indicates substances of food origin, isolated or concentrated, that carry out a physiological or biological action demonstrable on the organism.
The difference between nutraceutical and simple food integration lies in the scientific foundation: in fact, nutraceutical effectiveness, safety, dosages and mechanisms of action are supported by clinical evidence in a modern approach to health, oriented to prevention, customization and long-term well-being.
“The supplement, as the word itself says, is something that integrates what is missing or is relatively lacking in our diet: we think, for example, a vitamin or a mineral. The nutraceutical is instead a concentrated source of a natural substance, mainly of food origin: it can be a polyunsaturated fatty acid type Omega 3 or a product of vegetable origin, not necessarily a direct part of the diet, which gives us some advantage on health. The concept of naturality is always very vague, concerning the fact that the origin before these nutrients comes from nature: in reality it can also be reproduced chemically, as in the case of melatonin”, said Arrigo Cicero, director of the school of specialization in Food Sciences at the University of Bologna and president of the Italian Society of nutraceutica (Sinut), interviewed by Marco Klinger for Top Medicine, agency TV format.
In tracking the way in which nutraceuticals contribute to keeping certain pathologies far away, Cicero points out that “some substances naturally present in foods, when taken adequately throughout life, may be associated with the prevention of certain pathologies or the lesser exposure to a certain type of disease: for example, there are fibers that prevent cancer to the colon or all substances that modulate cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension. The nutraceutical can bridge how to behave on the modulation of our lifestyle before having to intervene pharmacologically.”.
The greatest dangers are those related to the DIY: with it, explains the president of Sinut, “the risk is that people take tablets, sachets or other things that have no effect, but they can constitute a wrong investment both because the product does not work both because taken in too short times than the potential effectiveness: the danger is minimal, because the Italian and European legislation is extremely restrictive on supplements and nutraceutics, so it is easier to find a product that does not produce. With an appropriate suggestion instead you can invest better your health resources: it is very difficult to recognize an effective product if you do not have a technical preparation, but in principle the products that contain fewer components are those that usually work more, because they have a concentration of active ingredients simply superior and therefore it is more likely that they can carry out their action”.
“Also, as by law products report components by decreasing order of concentration, if one has as the first component what it serves to sterilize a tablet is clear that it contains nothing; finally it is not necessary to trust more than so high-sounding names or that miman promises difficult to maintain,” he added.
The nutraceutica, it has emphasized, it does not concern a single field of the medical panorama, but there is a “for almost all specialized branches: the most ‘opening’ specialists always have a component for less relevant disorders, so the medical figure always remains a point of reference. General medicine is also opening up more and more to this type of branch: in Italy surely one of the most prepared health professionals on the subject is the pharmacist, because it has a habit of use and advice decidedly daily regarding the variety of demands; however, there are also specific skills regarding diet planists and biologists nutritionists. Unfortunately the degree of competence is extremely variable according to the sensitivity of the individual professional on the subject: a good one however does not recommend 4-5 products at the same time, but one or two very specific and without strange rotations”.
Italy, Cicero concludes, is one of the most developed countries in the nutraceutical field: “Increasing margins there are certainly: the Italian market is characterized by an extremely high quality standard, so that at European level we are the leading country for production quality, choice of raw materials and formulation activities; even in countries far from Europe Made in Italy in nutritional integration represents an added value. It can always be improved, also because there are extremely variable quality standards: it is working very especially on pharmaceutical techniques but not to make the products more artificial, but to improve its absorption and stability and reduce the aftertaste”.
– Photos from Top Medicine –
(ITALPRESS).
