NeuroScience is a key player concentrating its efforts on the battle of major health concerns whose presence and harmful effects are on the rise these days. With the number of patients suffering from various health diseases on the rise, Neuroscience Inc.
has dedicated its efforts towards making our environment a better place to live in. One of the bestselling products of this corporation is their nutraceutical formulas.
The origin of Nutraceuticals gives credit to food sources with extra health benefits in addition to the basic nutritional value that it already possesses.
They are actually a non-specific biological therapy that primarily focuses its efforts to ensure general wellbeing of the public. The term nutraceutical was put together by Stephen DeFelice in 1989.
Nutraceuticals And Their Categories
Nutraceuticals are classified based on natural sources, pharmacological conditions and chemical constitution of the products. The different categories of nutraceuticals include: dietary supplements, functional food, medicinal food and pharmaceuticals.
A dietary supplement is simply a product that contains nutrients derived from food products in liquid, capsule, powder or pill form.
Functional food are whole foods that have enhanced dietary components which may reduce the risk of chronic diseases and even provide health benefits beyond what can provided by the nutrients that the food already contains.
Medical food is to be administered internally, under the supervision of a qualified physician. It’s designed to treat a specific disease with distinctive nutritional requirements as established by medical evaluation.
Pharmaceuticals are valuable components produced from modified agricultural crops or animals. Pharmaceutical methods are more cost effective than conventional methods and this also helps in providing higher revenue for agricultural producers.
Some Facts On Nutraceuticals
From 1999 to 2002, the industry grew at an annual average growth rate of 7.3%. And today, the global nutraceutical market is estimated to have a net worth of 117 billion USD. Today’s trend oversees personalization and customization of the nutraceuticals. Investment in research and development to find innovative approaches to verify the health claims of the products represents the key strategies for the industries today.
The US, European Union, and India are currently the world’s largest nutraceutical markets in the world. However, China is expected to surpass everyone by 2030. The health conscious consumers are paving the way in which nutraceutical products are produced, making the companies focus their production techniques towards a more natural tone.
It’s noted that this market in India is growing at a rate of 21% per year, with large-scale efforts being undertaken to incorporate traditional herbal ingredients into the nutraceutical portfolio.
Benefits Of Nutraceuticals
Nutraceuticals are well known for their safety, nutritional and therapeutic effects. They have paramount importance in a wide variety of biological processes including antioxidant defenses, cell proliferation, and safeguarding of mitochondrial integrity.
In a nutshell, nutraceuticals help to prevent chronic diseases and some even claim to have the ability to postpone the aging process as well. They are also known to prevent diseases like allergies, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease.
Regulation Of Nutraceuticals
Nutracuetical regulations have been focused on safety and labeling on product claims and intended use. This is done with careful regard of the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). These regulating rules are different in different countries.
In the USA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for regulating nutraceuticals in the country. As per the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act 1994, it is the manufacturer’s responsibility to ensure that the nutraceutical is safe before it is marketed.
The FDA is authorized to take action against unsafe nutraceutical distribution and usage. The European Food and Safety Authority (EFSA) is the FDA equivalent, for European countries. In Canada and Australia, nutraceuticals are regulated and closely monitored as a drug rather than a food category.
For the entry of companies in the neutraceutical market, countries including Columbia, Argentina and Brazil employ a registration-based approach while countries like China and Taiwan require the clinical study of animals and humans as an entry requirement for companies to enter its nutraceutical market. Nevertheless, a key aspect to ensure product safety and quality in the market place is robust post market surveillance.
Side Effects Of NeuroScience Nutraceuticals
Nutraceuticals like Kava Kava, Ginkgo Biloba and St John’s Wort are known to influence the functioning of the brain. In Germany, physicians are 7 times more likely to prescribe St John’s Wort to treat depression as compared to the other conventional drugs. But as history goes on to prove it, not everything is 100% perfect, there will always be some sort of fault.
The notable adverse effects of St. John’s Wort includes gastrointestinal discomfort, allergic reactions, fatigue, restlessness, increased sensitivity to sunlight, dry mouth, confusion, and dizziness. In some cases, patients have been reported to have suffered from high blood pressure and have strokes as a direct consequence.
The nutraceutical Selenium is very crucial to the brain. Those with a low level of selenium are known to suffer from a wider range of depression. Cancer of the esophagus, celiac disease, schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis all are direct consequences of selenium deficiency. Researchers prescribe 100 microgram dose of lithium as a safe consumption limit, since lithium is also an important nutraceutical.
Food laws which govern the quality and processing of nutraceuticals lack the specificity required for botanical drugs. This may result in adulteration and contamination of nutraceuticals, hence posing a direct threat to consumers. Many widely used medicinal plants still lack the extensive physiological characterization.
The cost of nutraceuticals is also a cause of concern these days. Commercially available preparations are bound to be more pure and effective forms but tend to be much more expensive when compared to the natural remedies.
NeuroScience Review Summary
The way in which the human body responds to nutraceuticals varies from person to person. The degree to which an individual is prone to diseases depends upon genetic predisposition, environmental factors and the kind of lifestyle that particular individual leads. The role of nutraceuticals in the containment and treatment of various diseases has never been so evident.
Their success is governed by purity, safety and efficacy without any compromise on the innovation factor. It has become quite evident that long term clinical research is needed to scientifically validate the role of nutraceuticals in the treatment of various diseases.
With some careful handling, the future of plant and animal origin NeuroScience nutraceuticals will undoubtedly unlock a whole new domain in the medical field.
