Nutraceutical Use among Patients with Chronic Disease Attending Outpatient Clinics in a Tertiary Hospital

Abstract

Food-drug interphase products, referring to nutraceuticals in this study, are a category of health products containing a combination of food ingredients with active substances for oral consumption. Many of these products are marketed as an alternative to prescription medicine to treat various ailments despite the lack of scientific evidence, influencing patients with chronic diseases to consume nutraceutical products. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with knowledge, attitude, and practice of nutraceutical use among patients with chronic disease attending to the outpatient clinic. This is a cross-sectional study involving patients with chronic disease at the outpatient specialist clinic. Samples were recruited from the outpatient clinic using convenience sampling. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire, which was self-constructed and validated. We found that the use of nutraceuticals was prevalent among 17.9% of respondents. More than half (60.9%) of the respondents have poor knowledge of nutraceutical and 53.1% of respondents have a positive attitude towards nutraceutical. Gender and morbidities were the factors associated with the practice of nutraceutical usage. Female patients are more likely to have increased use of nutraceutical than male patients and patients with multiple morbidities have higher odds of using nutraceutical than patients with single morbidities. There is a high number of patients who consume nutraceutical products and public knowledge of nutraceutical needs to be improved further. The government should develop appropriate regulation and monitoring of nutraceutical products.

A study of nutraceutical prescription pattern among patients in an out-patient setting at Birat medical college teaching Hospital

“…Compared to a study done on Malaysia [7] have reported inadequate knowledge about nutraceuticals to an extent of 60.9%. This difference can be due to type of study design undertaken by various studies, nature of occurrence of disease, patient's characteristic and knowledge level.…”

Evaluation of nutritional supplements prescribed, its associated cost and patients knowledge, attitude and practice towards nutraceuticals: A hospital based cross-sectional study in Kavrepalanchok, Nepal

“…There are numerous nutraceutical products that have been claimed to offer a cure for many diseases, thus misleading chronic disease patients to use these products although scientific evidence backing such claims are lacking [ 13 ]. The claims of an energy booster, weight loss, enhanced appearance and other miraculous benefits for different illnesses may have prompted many consumers to fall for these unscientific assertions [ 14 ].…”

Naringenin – a potential nephroprotective agent for diabetic kidney disease: A comprehensive review of scientific evidence

“…This is especially true for the risk of developing macro-and microvascular complications [30]. In this context, medicine based on drugs combined with lifestyle changes has increased life expectancy and is considered complementary medicine [31,32]. In turn, lifestyle changes can include physical activity, as well as improvement in dietary habits, and even the use of traditional medicine including herbs, fruits, vegetables, and spices.…”