Why are dietary supplements not medicine? Is it good to take dietary supplements?

Surely we have heard the advertisement for dietary supplements: “This product is not a medicine and does not have the effect of replacing medicine”. So why are dietary supplements not medicines? And if they do not have the effect of curing diseases, why should we still use them?

NanoFrance will answer all the above questions in the article below. Don't forget to check it out!

I. Requirements of the Ministry of Health: The label of dietary supplements must state "this food is not a medicine"

According to regulations of the Ministry of Health, the labels of functional food products (formerly food - medicine) must not indicate the treatment of any specific disease.

Products containing biological active ingredients must have the following statement: "This food is not a medicine and cannot replace medicine."

From the above regulations, we can see: The Ministry of Health also provides clear instructions on functional foods, especially emphasizing the boundaries of these two product lines.

II. Why are functional foods not medicines?

As we emphasized at the beginning of the article, “Food supplements do not have a therapeutic effect”. While drugs are used to treat, diagnose or cure diseases. Taking a deeper look, we can clearly understand why there is such a difference:

The main ingredients and “working principles” of drugs and functional foods are completely different!

1. For functional foods

Dietary supplements contain a number of supplements that help the body supplement important and necessary nutrients that the body needs to function, they can help users reduce the risk of disease and reduce the symptoms of disease.

However, functional foods are used only to supplement nutrients in combination with a reasonable diet.

Currently, most functional foods have ingredients extracted from nature (Medicinal materials): herbs, extracts of plant and animal origin...

2. Characteristics of the drug

According to the concept: Medicine is a substance or mixture of substances used for humans for the purpose of disease prevention, treatment, disease detection or regulation of physiological activities of the body including: finished drugs, pharmaceutical ingredients, vaccines, medical biological products (except functional foods).

Medicines are produced from pharmaceutical ingredients and medicinal herbs, including:

→ Pharmaceutical ingredients (Active ingredients) : are substances or mixtures of substances used to produce drugs. They have pharmacological effects or direct effects in disease prevention, disease diagnosis, treatment, disease alleviation, and regulation of human physiological functions.

→ Medicinal materials : medicinal ingredients of natural origin or from plants, animals, or minerals that meet medicinal standards.

Medicines

Currently, there are about 5 most popular types of drugs. They have different characteristics, effects, and functions:

a. Pharmaceutical drugs

This is a medicine containing pharmaceutical ingredients whose composition, formula, purity and standards have been determined, including injectable medicines extracted from medicinal herbs, medicines that combine pharmaceutical ingredients with medicinal herbs whose safety and effectiveness have been proven.

b. Herbal medicine

Herbal medicine is a medicine that has ingredients from medicinal herbs and has effects based on scientific evidence, except for traditional medicine.

c. Traditional medicine

They are medicines with medicinal ingredients processed, formulated or combined according to the theories and methods of traditional medicine or according to folk experience into preparations with traditional or modern dosage forms.

d. Biological products

Biological products are also known as biological drugs. They are drugs produced by biological technology or processes from substances or mixtures of high molecular substances of biological origin including derivatives of human blood and plasma.

e. Vaccine

Vaccine is a drug containing antigens that creates an immune response in the body and is used for the purpose of disease prevention and treatment.

Besides, there are also some other types of drugs such as: generic drugs, psychotropic drugs, precursor drugs, addictive drugs, radioactive drugs...

Because of the different effects and ingredients, the management unit of each product line is also different. Dietary supplements will be managed by the Food Safety Department (Ministry of Health). Medicines are managed by the Drug Administration.

III. Dietary supplements are still recommended by doctors!

There are two big reasons why dietary supplements are still recommended by many experts:

First , it helps prevent disease effectively: The cause of the disease can come from: Nutritional imbalance, unreasonable lifestyle and diet → Body function is disturbed → Causes disease. The ingredients in each type of functional food will help limit this condition.

Second , support treatment to reduce symptoms of the disease: Some lines of dietary supplements are prescribed by doctors along with medications to treat the disease. They can help increase resistance, nourish the body, reduce symptoms of the disease, and help patients recover faster.

With the above differences, you must have clearly understood: Why functional foods are not medicine. Although they do not help cure the disease completely, they help PREVENT - SUPPORT THE TREATMENT of the disease. That is why this product line is still recommended by doctors.

Thank you for reading! Remember to regularly follow NanoFrance's website to update more latest medical knowledge!