Dietary supplements refers to any vitamin, mineral, herb or other consumable product added to one’s diet for its purported health benefits. While such supplements cannot claim they treat diseases or conditions directly, dietary supplements must only promote wellness overall.
Dietary supplements enhance absorption of nutrients found in food, providing additional support when specific requirements cannot be fulfilled through eating healthily alone.
Complementary diets
Timing and methods for the introduction of complementary foods (CF) should be refined for infants 6-23 months old, as randomized controlled trials have demonstrated. Proper introduction of CF improves child growth, size and body composition.
However, these studies were not designed to measure nutritional adequacy and evidence regarding the impact of CF on adiposity and lipid status is limited. Furthermore, a comprehensive systematic review of studies that examined nutritional impacts from CF revealed that only interventions with high evaluation levels produced positive effects.
Traditional Ethiopian homemade child-feeding (CF) recipes like fetfet, kitta, dabo and gruel do not meet daily energy requirements for young children even when fortified with iron. Furthermore, they lack essential micronutrients like calcium and zinc as well as animal sources of food; thus phytate levels inhibit bioavailability. Therefore a more balanced and nutrient-dense CF diet is required.
Complementary feeding
Complementary feeding refers to providing infants other than breast milk with food beyond breastmilk beginning at 6 months of age. This period is widely recognized as being crucial for growth and development while simultaneously being at high risk of malnutrition or stunting.
Foods made with traditional African recipes typically combine cereals, roots and vegetables into meals like fetfet, kitta dabo gruel for energy rich diets that lack iron zinc calcium content.
Homemade food substitutes for breast milk may lead to nutritional deficiencies and allergies in infants, and even cause choking or other issues. Fortified products may provide some assistance; however, they aren’t appropriate in every setting and may be costly; thus it is crucial that new and better practices be tested out and developed and adopted.
Complementary therapies
Many people living with cystic fibrosis use complementary therapies to better cope with their condition and treatment, often alongside conventional medical remedies prescribed by their doctors. These therapies aim to boost feelings of wellbeing and enhance quality of life.
These may also be known as alternative or integrative medicine, and they’re defined by the National Institutes of Health as “a wide array of healing philosophies, approaches and therapeutic modalities that fall outside conventional medical practice”.
Complementary therapies focus on relieving tension and stress while increasing relaxation and well-being. Some techniques may also promote energy flow within the body, making for greater vitality. If considering complementary therapies as part of your healthcare team it is important to speak to both your doctor and specialist nurse in advance, as some techniques could interact with some cancer medicines or have negative side effects themselves; it is also wise to check with therapists as to whether they work seamlessly alongside traditional treatment protocols.
Complementary cancer diets
Many cancer patients attempt to improve their health with special diets such as alkaline, macrobiotic, or Paleo diets. While these diets may offer some positive aspects, most make false promises about anti-cancer properties without providing evidence supporting such claims.
Diets that advocate alkaline foods such as green vegetables, fruits and oily fish in order to lower acidity levels in your body in an attempt to prevent cancer cells from proliferating are commonly touted. Unfortunately, however, this strategy has no proven track record and no proof it works.
As part of your healthcare team, it is essential that your complementary treatments are communicated to. Some can interfere with conventional cancer therapies or cause other issues – for instance herbal remedies can cause side effects that could interact with certain drugs, and it’s also vital that enough fluids are consumed – this helps support kidneys and the body’s natural healing processes while alleviating fatigue and constipation side effects. Everyone’s nutritional requirements differ, and working with a naturopathic nutritionist to tailor a diet specifically tailored to you may help.
