What Are Nutritional Supplements?

Nutritional supplements contain ingredients that are either common or uncommon to natural foods. These substances are either extracted from a natural food or they are made in a laboratory and are provided in many forms such as pills, powders for drinks, and bars. Some examples of the early supplementation include ancient Persian physicians providing iron supplements to soldiers wounded in battle. On the other hand nutritional supplements marketed to the public began as an attempt to fill nutritional

voids in the diet. For example, a supplement may help an individual who does not eat dairy foods meet their calcium needs.
 

Nutrition supplements are marketed to help ensure adequate nutrient intake to achieve a person’s goal for health and/or performance.
 

Today, the nutrition supplements industry has evolved into a multibillion-dollar industry. Nutrition supplements are sold in supermarkets, drugstores, stores found in shopping malls, on the internet, and by direct marketing. Nutrition supplements include a broad range of individual and combinations of recognized nutrients, such as protein and amino acid preparations, essential fatty acids and fish oil, vitamins, and minerals, to more obscure substances and extracts such as co-enzyme Q10, ginseng, ginkgo biloba, hydroxy citric acid (HCA), kola nut, bilberry, grape seed extract, phytosterols, choline, lipoic acid, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and carnitine. As we move through the ensuing chapters we will mention different supplements as they apply to different topics of normal and applied nutrition.