Food Supplements - Useful or Needless?
(BZfE) - Blessed or demented: the spirits separate themselves from food supplements. Are they useful, or can they dispense with food supplements? In September, 2017 invited the German Society of Nutrition, the Lower Saxony Medical Association and the Lower Saxony Department of Consumer Protection and Food Safety to the 7. Lower Saxony's Forum on Consumer Health Protection in Oldenburg.
As far as food supplements are concerned, it must first be defined what this product group is at all: foodstuffs which contain nutrients in concentrated form and are dosed in capsules, ampoules or tablets. There is no requirement for a benefit to the consumer.
"Many products offered as food supplements are not really any," explained Professor Dr. Hahn, who heads the Institute of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the Leibniz Universität Hannover. This is not just because they do not meet the legal definition: "For many substances there is very little data that meets the established scientific criteria," says Hahn. Many substances can not be considered physiologically by themselves or their effect is not adequately demonstrated. Consumers consume food supplements rather on suspicion.
"Much helps a lot" is not correct. Nutritional supplementation can be useful in case of increased need, to compensate for insufficient intake or to prevent, for example, during pregnancy. In general, however, it is about balancing a deficit: "In individual cases, I do not know what I need to supplement," says Hahn, stating that a balanced diet can not be replaced: "Food supplements are not food substitutes."
Regina Bartel, www.bzfe.de
