With a growing population, our world is facing an increase in morbidity a trend that naturally increases our reliance on the pharmaceutical industry for the treatment and prevention of disease.
At the same time, we are facing an epidemic of diet-related chronic disease on a global scale, which begs the question - Can we use food as medicine?
It’s not a new query, and humans have actually been using food to benefit our health for centuries.
In the late 1980s, the Foundation for Innovation in Medicine in New York coined the term ‘Nutraceuticals’ to define food and diets that have been clinically proven to provide medical or health benefits. This category includes isolated nutrients, over-the-counter supplements, and processed or genetically engineered foods. Many consider nutraceuticals to sit in the grey area between food and pharmaceuticals.
So let's compare nutraceuticals with pharmaceuticals…
Pharmaceuticals are substances or products that modify physiological systems to achieve improved health outcomes.
In general, pharmaceuticals are considered to be medications to treat disease with the ability to exert their therapeutic effects on the body quickly, while nutraceuticals predominantly play their role in the prevention of disease, applying their benefits progressively and over a longer period of time.
The hold of nutraceuticals on the global market is growing, in part because they can provide therapeutic outcomes to patients who do not qualify for conventional pharmacological treatment, and due to the misconception, that because they are of a ‘natural’ origin, nutraceuticals are the safer choice.
Unlike pharmaceutical products, nutraceuticals are not generally government-sanctioned, or patent-protected. While they do need to be clinically proven to provide medicinal benefits, the testing required to get the product on the market is less rigorous than for conventional medicines. Regulation of what is and isn’t considered a nutraceutical differs around the world.
While humanity has been conscious of food as medicine for centuries, the research surrounding nutraceuticals is still emerging. Experts agree that food has its place in the prevention and treatment of disease, and with consistent global regulations, nutraceuticals could become a more established and conventional part of disease prevention and treatment.
Ingredients
Nutraceuticals are sourced from food and- ingredients that are not used in large amounts in pharmaceutical production. Pharmaceuticals are made of active ingredients which range from synthetic chemicals to biological compounds. This gives the impression of nutraceuticals being the natural and ‘safer’ choice, which is not always the case, as consumption of nutraceuticals opens the door to food-drug interactions.
Action
In general, pharmaceuticals are considered to treat disease, while nutraceuticals are used in the prevention of health conditions. This is, in part because of the ability of many pharmaceuticals to act rapidly on the body, especially in comparison to the progressive action of nutraceuticals which exert their effects over a longer period of time.
Pharmaceuticals has its upside and downside. Its use can have side effects. Nutraceuticals on the other end provides benefit to the well-being of a person’s health. Even though extensive research is not available illustrating the benefit of Nutraceuticals, there is enough evidence that support its beneficial use. Both treatment modalities can complement each other as each provides health benefit in their unique way. In the end, we all want to achieve a healthy balanced life and we should be wise to choose the array of supplements that would achieve that goal. With ProNature Labs, you can achieve that. Our supplements are physician formulated and the complex blend of natural elements makes it unique and aimed at optimizing the health of body system or function.