Dietary enhancement refers to the impact that specific foods have on physical characteristics, such as vitality, strength and complexion. Dietary supplements such as vitamins, herbs and supplements may provide such boosts.
Studies have demonstrated the benefits of incorporating more nutrients into a healthcare worker’s diet for stress reduction, increased cognitive speed and accuracy, as well as overall wellbeing benefits in high-stress healthcare environments.
Enriched Foods
Enriched foods are those which have had nutrients added back in following processing, such as flour containing vitamins such as thiamin, riboflavin and folic acid to protect it against specific health problems like scurvy and rickets.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US has established a policy on food fortification that stipulates any nutrient added to foods must be stable, physiologically available, present at levels which will not lead to excess intake, and safe for human consumption. Individual states may enact laws which govern fortification differently in their jurisdiction.
Many people also rely on fortified foods as an extra way of getting additional nutrition into their daily diet, such as iodized salt or vitamin D-enriched milk. Although fortified food may be useful, it’s still wise to choose whole, natural foods over supplements as much as possible to ensure you receive all the nutrition your body requires from natural sources.
Nutrient Supplements
Nutritional supplements, also known as nutritional supplements, include vitamins, minerals, herbs and amino acids. They may come in pill, capsule, gummy or liquid forms and often fall under the umbrella of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practices – systems, practices or products not associated with traditional medicine but that provide health care alternatives.
Iron deficiency anemia or folic acid deficiency during pregnancy are conditions in which supplements may help, though these should never replace eating a balanced diet rich in a variety of food and nutrients.
Supplements may come from plants, animals or synthetic sources and contain ingredients like antioxidants and phytochemicals to promote overall wellness. They’re regulated by the FDA; however their rules vary from those for medicines; supplements don’t need to prove their claims and have more liberal labeling requirements, making them an attractive option among complementary and alternative medicine users.
Functional Foods
Functional foods are often defined as any food or beverage which claims health benefits; however, no definitive definition has yet been provided and much confusion persists surrounding what these products exactly entail.
Food and beverage producers sometimes make health claims about their products without clearly understanding or adhering to regulations, leading them to make misleading or exaggerated claims, such as that a functional drink contains adaptogens which relieve stress or that a specific fiber type reduces bloating and gas. This may result in false promises such as adaptogens reliving stress from functional beverages or promising that new types of fiber reduce bloating and gas.
Ideal nutritional science behind functional foods should combine advances in food technology with natural health-promoting ingredients, such as fruits and vegetables high in nutrients or medicinal mushrooms that promote healing, or fermented food containing good bacteria. However, the term functional food has come to refer to many processed products that incorporate additional nutrients or boost existing benefits, such as yoghurt with added calcium content or cereal fortified with additional antioxidants.
Food Fortification
Food fortification refers to the practice of adding specific micronutrients to foods that may or may not naturally contain them with the goal of correcting a demonstrated deficiency. Fortification programs may apply mass fortification strategies or be targeted specifically towards subgroups such as children, pregnant women or social protection beneficiaries.
The Copenhagen Consensus has consistently identified fortification as one of the most cost-effective development interventions, with incremental costs per person varying depending on iodized salt costs as low as $0.05 and lifetime costs of wheat/maize containing iron/folic acid at less than $15 per person.
Industrial fortification is the most prevalent approach to nutritional supplementation, as it adds micronutrients directly into staple foods without altering their taste or texture. Point-of-use fortification also brings considerable advantages when applied to snack foods and beverages with rich nutrient profiles; its success ultimately relies on national policies, regulatory frameworks and private sector support.
