Is It Nutrasutical or Nutraceutical?
However You Spell It, Food Based Medicines Are The Future Of Treatments For Many Of Humankind's Illnesses

Nutraceutical (sometimes spelled nutrasutical) refers to extracts of foods claimed to have a medicinal effect on human health.
Traditionally, the nutraceutical was contained in a medicinal format such as a capsule, tablet or powder in a prescribed dose, although more modern Nutraceuticals such as Probiotic drinks and yogurt are now found in ordinary supermarkets alongside normally everyday versions of the product.

More rigorously, nutraceutical implies that the extract or food is demonstrated to have a physiological benefit or provide protection against a chronic disease^.

Functional foods are defined as being consumed as part of a usual diet but are demonstrated to have physiological benefits and/or reduce the risk of chronic disease beyond basic nutritional functions.

Examples of claims made for nutraceuticals are:

• resveratrol from red grape products as an antioxidant,
• soluble dietary fiber products, such as psyllium seed husk for reducing hypercholesterolemia,
• broccoli (sulforaphane) as a cancer preventative, and
• soy or clover (isoflavonoids) to improve arterial health.

Such claims are being researched and many citations are available via PubMed to ascertain their foundation of basic research.

For example, grapeseed extract is absorbed into bodily cells to help brain function and maintain healthy cholesterol levels. We absorb grapeseed extract more efficiently by finding foods that contain a grapeseed and phospholipid blended.

Other nutraceutical examples are:

• flavonoids antioxidants,
• alpha-linolenic acid from flax seeds,
• beta-carotene from marigold petals,
• anthocyanins from berries.

With the US Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), several other compounds were added to the list of supplements originally mentioned in FDA notification. Thus, many botanical and herbal extracts such as ginseng, garlic oil, etc. have been developed as nutraceuticals.

Dr. Vincent Bellonzi, a chiropractor and a Certified Clinical Nutritionist in practice for over 12 yearstalks to us about should you get your nutrients through food and diet or should you take vitamins to supplement your nutrition.