[e-drug] Nutrition in health care, any role for pharmacists? (2)

["Murtada Sesay" <MurtadaS@unops.org>]

E-DRUG: Nutrition in health care, any role for pharmacists? (2)
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Dear Rebecca,

My experience as a pharmacist in the area of nutrition comes from many years of participating in new product development, technical evaluation  and procurement of nutrition products for public health programmes. I can share with you the following:

1.  Nutritionists are seldom agreed on exact product standards, partly because evidence is often shaky, shifting, or even controversial. You may wish, for example, to explore what the current expert thinking is on the role on nutrition products in HIV/AIDS, or that of iron supplementation in malaria endemic parts of the world. 
2.  Regulatory requirements vary widely from country to country. So, one often faces a situation in which country A may classify a product as a "nutritional product" whereas country B may classify it as a "pharmaceutical". The use of the term "nutraceutical" pops up from time to time. This creates a dilemma for the Pharmacist evaluating procurement bids.
3.  Reliable stability data for nutrition products are hard to come by, making one wonder how product shelf Lives of the numerous nutrition products in circulation are assigned.
4.  Most Nutritionists I have come across have a good knowledge of the clinical role of the nutrient/micronutrient, but little understanding of the active agent delivery options in terms of dosage forms. This is one important area where pharmacists can work together with nutritionists. This collaboration, however, should start up stream of clinical evidence gathering. 
5.  Lastly, I think the number of products on offer as nutrition for health care is so overwhelming that it becomes quite a challenge to decide which product to invest resources in.

Best wishes in your work,

Murtada M. Sesay
Senior Pharmaceutical Product/Supply Chain Officer
UNOPS India Procurement Office 
11, Golf Links
New Delhi - 110.003
India
Tel.: +91 11 3041 7430 (Direct), +91 11 3041 7430 (switchboard)
Fax: +91 11 4350 8527
Email:  Murtadas@unops.org