Medical foods are nutritional products designed to manage specific medical conditions and should be recommended and supervised by a medical professional. They are not the same as nutritional supplements or fortified foods and can be consumed orally or through tube feeding. The FDA regulates medical foods in the US and they may be covered by some health insurance plans if prescribed and supervised by a physician. Infant formula for phenylketonuria is a well-known example of a medical food.
A medical food is a nutritional product designed to address an individual’s medical and dietary needs caused by a specific disease or medical condition. Medical foods should not be confused with nutritional supplements or nutritionally fortified foods. In contrast, a medical food is formulated to help manage a disease, not just provide nutritional supplementation, and should be administered on the recommendation and under the supervision of a medical professional. Medical foods can be formulated to be consumed orally or as liquid nutrition administered by tube feeding. The definition and regulation of medical foods can vary by jurisdiction, and use of the term may be regulated by government agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States.
There are some medical conditions that can be alleviated or treated through dietary management, which may include the consumption of a medical food. In the United States, the FDA requires that food products labeled as medical foods be formulated with ingredients that, through accepted medical knowledge and scientific methods, have been shown to meet nutritional needs and, in some cases, aid in the treatment of a medication condition. The FDA also requires that such labeling apply only to specially formulated and processed foods that are part of a physician’s care and management plan for a specific patient.
One well-known type of medical food is infant formula, which is specifically designed to meet the needs of infants affected by phenylketonuria (PKU), a condition that prevents them from properly metabolizing phenylalanine, an amino acid. This condition can cause severe developmental disabilities in affected children, but such consequences can be avoided with proper dietary management, including the use of special low-phenylalanine infant formulas. Other types of medical foods include formulations for people with diabetes, gastrointestinal blockages, and severe allergies.
While many health insurance and health care plans do not cover the cost of nutritional supplements or natural remedies, some do reimburse the cost of medical foods, depending on the laws of the jurisdiction where the health care plan or health care plan is offered. health insurance. In such cases, medical foods may be treated like medical equipment or drugs, and their costs are at least partially covered by the plan. Such coverage is generally provided only if the medical food is actually prescribed by a physician and its use is supervised by a physician.
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