[Effective nutritional supplements or pharmaceuticals : How can they be classified and used?]

Health awareness is increasing in the population, which means that more and more dietary supplements are being bought. These are very similar to well known medicines and sometimes indistinguishable both for healthcare professionals as well as for the consumer. Unclear legal terms and missing maximum quantities and substance lists contribute to this. Both product groups are subject to completely different legal norms and have different market access procedures and risk assessment systems. They also differ in purpose. Thus, medicines are used to cure, alleviate and prevent disease. In contrast dietary supplements should complement the normal diet. Whether this is always necessary and useful is contentiously discussed. Last but not least, there is also a great deal of controversy over the amounts of nutrients added in food supplements. European rules on the use of nutritional supplements for nutrition and health claims in foodstuffs are intended to protect consumers from misleading and false promises; however, numerous competition procedures show that further action is needed in this respect.