Diet complements are nutritional supplements consisting of any vitamin, mineral, herb or botanical, amino acid or other ingestible preparation that are added to food in order to improve health and nutrition. These can include industrially produced fortified infant formula as well as homemade or locally produced complementary foods that aim at infants, young children and adolescents.
Introduction
Infants should be introduced to complementary foods (other than breastmilk or infant formula) at an age when their nutritional needs have been fulfilled and breastfeeding continues to provide optimal nutrition. Timing of this introduction varies across cultures and availability of different kinds of food; maternal age, education level, household income and breastfeeding duration all play a part. Growing research shows that selecting specific types of complementary food has significant health impacts.
An unhealthy diet increases complement activation and C5a production, leading to intestinal inflammation and the expression of proto-oncogenes. A diet rich in unsaturated fatty acids reduces this effect; conversely, low protein intake during infancy reduces linear growth while increasing risk of vitamin D deficiency and rickets. To restore its original meaning as “dietary complement”, supplement food should provide essential nutrition not available through breastfeeding alone and be introduced when developmentally ready while breastfeeding continues providing optimal nutrition.
Nutrients
At six months, an infant’s energy and nutritional needs may exceed what can be satisfied solely through breast milk or formula alone. At this point, safe and nutritional industrially produced fortified complementary foods should be introduced alongside breastfeeding and family meals to supplement them.
Diets rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean protein and healthy fats have been associated with reduced risks of obesity, heart disease, stroke and certain cancers. Dietary supplements including vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre plant proteins and antioxidants.
A high-fat diet promotes intestinal tumorigenesis in genetically susceptible mice by activating complement and producing the fragment C5a, leading to increased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and proto-oncogenes. Specific saturated fatty acids found in HFDs induce this process further adding an important new dimension of our understanding of complement’s role in inflammation-based diseases (58).
Texture
Diets that consist largely of foods with one texture can become tedious over time, but incorporating complementary foods of various textures into meals can increase overall meal satisfaction and nutrition status.
Texture acceptance evolves throughout the complementary feeding period and is tied to exposure to food texture combinations. Figure 3 depicts that children gradually accept new texture combinations with high variance across age classes, but acceptance remains inconsistent across individuals due to personal factors (children’s ability to eat with their fingers, frequency of gagging episodes and mother’s attitudes about solids introduction). These factors all influence its development.
Safety
Under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, manufacturers and distributors must submit information to FDA about any new dietary supplement ingredient they release into interstate commerce. FDA reviews this data to ensure that these supplements are safe and their labels accurately represent their contents; additionally, FDA also issues rules and regulations related to these supplements and monitors health claims made during marketing or advertising efforts.
Studies have demonstrated that certain dietary fats promote intestinal tumorigenesis in genetically susceptible mice independent of obesity or related metabolic conditions. These researches characterized how HFD-induced complement activation and C5a generation create an inflammatory environment which in turn promotes expression of pro-oncogenic genes which lead to tumor development. Pharmacological and genetic targeting of C5a significantly reduced inflammation as well as polyp formation among obese HFDOlive-fed APCmin/+ mice.
The Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database (NMCD) is a subscription-based resource that reviews all “natural medicines” available to North Americans – such as dietary supplements – including extensive research on their safety and efficacy.
