Introduction: Food supplements come in various forms and are used to supplement the normal diet and usually contain vitamins as well as minerals. Minerals are inorganic substances necessary for normal growth, development and health, but which the body does not synthesize itself so we consume them with a varied and balanced diet.
Aim: The aim of this work is to review and evaluate the safety of zinc, magnesium, calcium, and iron in food supplements for adults, whose doses exceed the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) declared by Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011. We aim to determine if their use is safe for the consumer or what are the risks if the recommended levels are exceeded.
Methods: We studied the Slovenian market for food supplement containing zinc, magnesium, calcium, and iron. We focused on food supplements for adults that contain amounts of minerals in a daily dose that exceed the RDA levels.
Results and discussion: We collected the following about zinc-, magnesium-, calcium-, and iron-containing food supplements in various forms: recommended daily doses, amounts of minerals, percentage of RDA and chemical forms. We collected various dietary reference values for mineral intake. We found that the RDA values declared on food supplements are in principle lower than the recommendations of the National institute of Public Health (NIJZ) or the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which provide dietary reference values for different gender, age groups and physiological needs. Our aim was to find out if any of food supplements exceed the Tolerable upper intake level (UL), which considers the total daily intake of nutrients from all sources. For one zinc- and two iron- containing food supplements the amount of the mineral in the daily dose exceeded the UL. We found that some zinc- and iron- containing food supplements exceeded the daily dose, that should not be exceeded according to the Guidelines of the Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices of the Republic of Slovenia (JAZMP).
Conclusions: In the case of an unbalanced, monotonous and low-quality diet, food supplements can contribute to the achievement of reference values and have a positive impact on health. On the other hand, careless use of food supplements may exceed the UL value of nutrients, which may pose a risk of side effects and impact on the health of the user.
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