Biome Bites Ep011 - Supplements performing like drugs

In this Biome Bite, Dr James McIlroy discusses the differences between food supplements and drugs, including their regulations and pricing. He suggests that some food supplements may be better than drugs for certain uses and indications, despite the higher standards and stringency for drugs.

What are the differences between a food supplement and a drug?

There are some key differences in the regulations. And those regulations govern how they're manufactured, how they're tested, the levels of quality assurance, and also the level of evidence. that has to be generated for them to be able to be put on the market.

So drugs are regulated by competent authorities. In the UK, it's the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. Food supplements are regulated by food standards agencies. In the US, interestingly, they're both governed and regulated by the same group, the FDA, Food and Drug Administration, but they're separate divisions within that very large organization that create the standards that the companies and the organizations that are manufacturing, distributing, and marketing have to adhere to.

Now, classically, there are significant price differences between drugs and food supplements, and that's driven by the level of evidence that the companies have to generate to put the products on the market. And there's much higher stringency and standards in drugs rather than foods. Drugs often fail in clinical development as well because the standards are so high.

Therefore, the drugs that are on the market are priced by the companies to be able to recoup losses from a company-wide perspective, associated with failed drugs, and also to make a significant return, typically within a patent life. of an approved drug. Back to the topic. Food supplements could be better than a drug for certain indications, and certain uses.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:46 Key differences between supplement and drug

00:03:14 Lysine

00:09:54 Quercetin

00:15:19 Melatonin

TRANSCRIPT:

Biome Bites #11

 

Hi everyone, it's your host Dr. James McElroy here today for another Biome Bites. This is a solo episode so you have me and only me for the entirety of this episode. Today we're going to be speaking about three food supplements that could be better than drugs. Or rather, in a parallel universe, may in fact be regulated and distributed, marketed, and prescribed as drugs.

So what are the differences between a food supplement and a drug? There are some key differences in relation to the regulations. And those regulations govern how they're manufactured, how they're tested, the levels of quality assurance, and also the level of evidence. that has to be generated for them to be able to be put on the market.

So drugs are regulated by competent authorities. In the UK, it's the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. Food supplements are regulated by food standards agencies. In the US, interestingly, they're both governed and regulated by the same group, the FDA, Food and Drug Administration, but they're separate divisions within that very large organization that create the standards that the companies and the organizations that are manufacturing, distributing, and marketing have to adhere to.

Now, classically, there are significant price differences between drugs and food supplements, and that's driven by the level of evidence that the companies have to generate to put the products on the market. And there's much higher stringency and standards in drugs rather than foods. Drugs often fail in clinical development as well because the standards are so high.

Therefore, the drugs that are on the market are priced by the companies to be able to recoup losses from a company-wide perspective, associated with failed drugs, and also to make a significant return, typically within a patent life. of an approved drug. Back to the topic. Food supplements could be better than a drug for certain indications, and certain uses.

I'm going to start with something called Lysine, also known as L Lysine. Lysine is an essential amino acid. Now, there are nine essential amino acids that we're aware of for the human body. That means that they cannot be synthesized by the human body and have to be consumed, have to be generated by your diet, so you have to consume them, you have to find them through some sort of intake, whether it's through food or a supplement.

High protein foods are rich sources of all the essential amino acids, red meat, poultry, fish, pork, nut, legumes, and soy products from a plant perspective, also contain a wide variety of amino acids. Typically they don't. contain the complete sets of amino acids in the case of plants. And interestingly, from a protein bioavailability perspective, animal proteins are typically more bioavailable than plant proteins.

What are we talking about