Comparing Dietary Supplements and Drugs – They Are NOT the Same!

Medicines are used to treat diseases while functional foods only play the role of a “supporting” product for treatment, helping to improve the body’s condition. These are two completely different product lines! To help you have a complete, clear, and detailed view of them, in this article, NanoFrance will compare functional foods and medicines – Don’t confuse them!

I. Comparing functional foods and drugs – What are the similarities and differences?

Are dietary supplements drugs? → They are 2 COMPLETELY DIFFERENT product lines. We will compare dietary supplements and drugs to show you how they are similar and different!

1. Comparison of functional foods and drugs in dosage form

Basically, what are the dosage forms of drugs, functional foods also have similar dosage forms such as: Tablets, capsules, liquid products, granules - powders... If you only look at the external form, it will be difficult to distinguish which is medicine and which is functional food.

2. Ingredients of drugs and functional foods

For medicine

Raw materials for drug production include: pharmaceutical ingredients, medicinal herbs, excipients, capsule shells, etc. We will analyze specifically so you understand what these ingredients are?

→ Pharmaceutical substance : Also known as active ingredient. Is a substance or mixture of substances used to produce drugs, has pharmacological effects or has direct effects in the process of disease prevention, disease diagnosis, treatment, disease alleviation, and regulation of physiological functions of the human body.

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

Ingredients of functional foods

Functional foods are made up of: medicinal herbs, excipients, capsule shells, and some other additional essences. In general, functional foods will not contain medicinal ingredients that can treat diseases.

3. Differences between each product line of medicine and functional foods

Because of different ingredients, drugs and functional foods are also divided into many different product lines!

Drug Classification – What product lines are available?

Currently, drugs are divided into the following 5 main types:

• Treatment: Used to treat the cause or symptoms of a particular disease.
• Preventive medicine: Has the effect of preventing diseases that may occur later. Vaccines are one of the preventive medicines.
• Treatment support drugs: Do not have a direct therapeutic effect but have the effect of increasing, supporting or overcoming the side effects of treatment drugs to achieve higher efficiency.
• Diagnostic and exploratory drugs: Used for testing and diagnosing diseases
• Nutritional supplements, physical enhancement: Vitamins, Amino Acids… for the body

In general, they all have the effect of curing and preventing specific diseases.

Main product groups of functional foods

7 popular product groups of functional foods:

• Vitamin supplements
• Mineral supplement line
• Dietary supplements with Protein and Amino Acids
• Fatty Acid Supplements
• Functional foods containing probiotics
• Nutritional supplements for athletes
• Functional foods extracted and concentrated from nature: contain extracts from medicinal plants, herbs...

Because of different ingredients, functional foods and medicines are also divided into different product lines.

4. Comparison of usage methods between drugs and functional foods

If we compare functional foods and drugs in terms of how they are used, we can clearly see a BIG DIFFERENCE: To use drugs, you need to follow the doctor's prescription. While we can take functional foods, we don't need a prescription. How to take them, how to use them, and what to note are all written on the prescription (instruction sheet).

II. “Signs” to distinguish functional foods and drugs!

There are many ways to distinguish between Functional Foods and Medicines, but NanoFrance will suggest you the simplest way to identify them: If it is a Functional Food, the product packaging will have some information such as:

• Functional food
• The product is not a medicine and does not have the function of replacing medicine.

From the user's perspective, you just need to pay attention to this sign!

Hopefully, this article comparing NanoFrance's functional foods and medicines will help you have a clearer view of these two product lines. Remember to regularly follow NanoFrance's website to update more knowledge about the latest medicine and pharmacy!