- A dietary supplement is a product that contains a vitamin, mineral, herb, or other plant product, an amino acid, or a dietary substance that *supplements* the diet by increasing total intake.
- The **Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act of 1994** allows manufacturers to classify nutrient supplements and herbal products as foods.
- They do not undergo rigorous testing before being marketed
- Most foods *do not contain toxic levels of vitamins and minerals*.
- A megadose is an amount of vitamin or mineral that is very high, generally at least 10 times the recommended amount of the nutrient.
- When taken in high amounts, many vitamins have unpleasant side effects.
# Malnutrition
- Malnutrition is a state of health that occurs when the body is *improperly nourished*. This includes *both***undernutrition** and **over nutrition**.
- Nutritionally inadequate diets may be selected because of
- Dr. Goldberger discovered a hypothesis that pellagra resulted from something lacking in people's diets. He hypothesized that the missing dietary factor was in meat, milk, and other foods eaten by higher income people. The missing nutrient turned out to be niacin, or vitamin b.
# Science
- Previously, nutrition facts were based on intuition or **anecdotes**.
- Today, nutrition is based on scientific research.
## The Scientific Method
1. Make observations that generate questions
2. Formulate hypothesis to explain events
3. Review current scientific literature (published studies) that relate to the question.
4. Design studies, perform tests, and collect data.
5. Analyze data and draw conclusions.
6. Share results.
7. Conduct more research that may agree or disagree with previous findings.
