Pharmacists' role in managing food supplements

Background: Every year, the value of the world market of Food Supplements (FS) increases considerably, especially following the accepting the role of nutrition in maintaining health. The share of official importers of medicinal products on FS market is not significant and the procedure for placing food supplements on the market is not sufficiently regulated.  All these conditions create major health risks for FS consumers.

Material and methods: In order to study the complexity of the field of food supplements and to highlight the existing problems in this field at the national level, and also to determine the pharmacist’s role in releasing food supplements and counseling patients, was used  comparative method for registering the dietary supplements in Romania and the Republic of Moldova.

Results: The complex assessment of food supplements in the Republic of Moldova and Romania and elucidation of the pharmacist’s role in dispensing of food supplements were carried out in order to prevent the abuse and non-rational use of the FS. For this reason it was carried out a comparative analysis of the legal framework for FS in both mentioned countries and the study of the national food supplements market was performed according to the criteria of the producers and importers that are present on the market.

Conclusions: Legislation on food supplements in the Republic of Moldova is incomplete and unsatisfactory formulated.  The value of the food supplements market is constantly increasing making this area attractive. The prevalence of economic interests over the medical interests may have adverse consequences for the health of the population.  The pharmacist has the primary role both in implementing the necessary legislative changes and in counseling patients to prevent the non-conforming use of food supplements.