N. Kioukia-Fougia, N. Georgiadis, K. Tsarouhas, F. Vasilaki, Persefoni Fragiadaki, E. Meimeti, C. Tsitsimpikou
{"title":"Synthetic and Natural Nutritional Supplements: Health \"Allies\" or Risks to Public Health?","authors":"N. Kioukia-Fougia, N. Georgiadis, K. Tsarouhas, F. Vasilaki, Persefoni Fragiadaki, E. Meimeti, C. Tsitsimpikou","doi":"10.2174/1872213X10666160923163700","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"BACKGROUND The modern way of life involves high stress levels, poor eating habits, lack of exercise, obesity and other detrimental health factors. Nutritional supplements (NS) are complexes of nutrients with variant activity that may infer reversal to nutrient depletion. They tend to be popular amongst social categories associated with the healthy life style, such as the elite and amateur athletes, military people and the general population. OBJECTIVE An overview of the state of play with regard to nutritional supplements - natural and synthetic-, is important both from toxicological and commercial point of view. METHOD From a thorough literature review on nutritional supplements, several patents of application have been identified and herewith reviewed which recommend natural vegetable extracts as food supplements for prophylaxis, therapy, protection of immune system, diabetes, oxidative stress, cancer, chronic inflammations and other health conditions. Besides, nutritional supplements of pharmacological validity and high popularity are discussed relative to their contents and group of use. RESULTS Cases of adulteration or unintentional contamination of commercial products with abusing substances (doping substances, narcotics etc.) or toxic compounds (heavy metals, plant toxics) have shed light to the problem of causing recalls of some products by the FDA. CONCLUSION From the safety/ quality point of view, NS lack of harmonisation and sovereign laws/ institutional controls on the market and their wide commercialization may possibly lead to risks to public health.","PeriodicalId":20960,"journal":{"name":"Recent patents on inflammation & allergy drug discovery","volume":"10 2 1","pages":"72-85"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2000,"publicationDate":"2017-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2174/1872213X10666160923163700","citationCount":"12","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Recent patents on inflammation & allergy drug discovery","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2174/1872213X10666160923163700","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 12
Abstract
BACKGROUND The modern way of life involves high stress levels, poor eating habits, lack of exercise, obesity and other detrimental health factors. Nutritional supplements (NS) are complexes of nutrients with variant activity that may infer reversal to nutrient depletion. They tend to be popular amongst social categories associated with the healthy life style, such as the elite and amateur athletes, military people and the general population. OBJECTIVE An overview of the state of play with regard to nutritional supplements - natural and synthetic-, is important both from toxicological and commercial point of view. METHOD From a thorough literature review on nutritional supplements, several patents of application have been identified and herewith reviewed which recommend natural vegetable extracts as food supplements for prophylaxis, therapy, protection of immune system, diabetes, oxidative stress, cancer, chronic inflammations and other health conditions. Besides, nutritional supplements of pharmacological validity and high popularity are discussed relative to their contents and group of use. RESULTS Cases of adulteration or unintentional contamination of commercial products with abusing substances (doping substances, narcotics etc.) or toxic compounds (heavy metals, plant toxics) have shed light to the problem of causing recalls of some products by the FDA. CONCLUSION From the safety/ quality point of view, NS lack of harmonisation and sovereign laws/ institutional controls on the market and their wide commercialization may possibly lead to risks to public health.
期刊介绍:
Recent Patents on Inflammation & Allergy Drug Discovery publishes review articles by experts on recent patents in the field of inflammation and allergy drug discovery e.g. on novel bioactive compounds, analogs and targets. A selection of important and recent patents in the field is also included in the journal. The journal is essential reading for all researchers involved in inflammation and allergy drug design and discovery.