Glossary

Dietary supplements

A product taken orally that contains one or more ingredients that are intended to supplement one’s diet and are not considered food. Dietary supplements are intended to be ingested in the form of a tablet, capsule, powder, softgel, gelcap, or liquid droplet.

Functional foods or nutraceuticals

Foods or food components that provide a health benefit beyond basic nutrition. I.e. food given an additional function related to health-promotion or disease prevention by adding new ingredients or more of the existing ingredients. Functional foods may be designed to have physiological benefits and/or reduce the risk of chronic disease beyond basic nutritional functions and may be similar in appearance to conventional foods and consumed as part of a regular diet.

Medical foods

Foods that are specifically formulated and intended for the dietary management of a disease that has distinctive nutritional needs that cannot be met by normal diet alone. Medical foods are for oral ingestion or tube feeding (nasogastric tube) and intended to be used under medical supervision.