Home › Medical Foods › What is the history of medical foods?

What is the history of medical foods?

By on

Medical foods are something that most people have not heard of but they their history goes back decades.

If you want to learn what a medical food is click here.

1940’s – Medical foods originated in 1940 with formulas made of whey protein, carbohydrate, and lipids and were often used in elderly patients who were in nursing homes and hospitals.

1960’s – It wasn’t until the 1960’s that the first medical food was commercially developed.

The name of this product was Lofenalac which was an infant formula to treat the metabolism error known as phenylketonuria (PKU).

1983 – With the passage of the Orphan Drug Act medical foods were defined as specially formulated mixtures of nutrients and phytochemicals that were to be used under medical supervision.

Even though they are to be used under medical supervision medical foods do not require a prescription.

The goal of medical foods are to manage the course of a disease and not ‘treat’ a disease.

Do you know what the difference is between a medical food and a dietary supplement?

 

Here are few examples of medical foods:

– Axona (caprylic triglyceride) – Alzheimer’s disease

– Banatrol Plus (banana flakes/Bimuno, galacto-oligosaccharide – diarrhea

– Deplin (l-methylfolate) – depression

– Fosteum (genistein aglycone/citrated zinc bisglycinate/cholecalciferol) – osteopenia and osteoporosis

– Limbrel (flavocoxid) – osteoarthritis

– Metanx (L-methylfolate calcium/pyridoxal 5′-phosphate/methylcobalamin) – diabetic neuropathy

 

Take away message: Medical foods have been first used back in the 1940’s and at times can be difficult to distinguish from dietary supplements.  One key difference is that medical foods are indicated for a specific disease as outlined in the Orphan Drug Act of 1983.

Jeremy Johnson, PharmD, PhD
Latest posts by Jeremy Johnson, PharmD, PhD (see all)
‹
›

Categories: Medical Foods, Plant Medicine