Clinical Nutrition in Gastrointestinal Disease

The gastroenterologist should know about dietary supplements, because his or her patient will probably be taking a supplement¹ or because, in some instances, a supplement may be part of the therapeutic armamentarium. Estimates of supplement usage rates and costs vary; however, it is estimated 50% or more of the Western population is taking some form of supplement at a total cost of billions of dollars. Over 50% of supplement takers do not report this use to their physician.² Only a handful of available dietary supplements have undergone rigorous scientific evaluation. According to the…