Sensory and nutritional characteristics of dietary supplements

Abstract

Dietary supplements are indicated when food intake is less than the nutritional requirement. This situation occurs most frequently in patients with infectious and chronic diseases, which increases the body's energy expenditure, but appetite decreases. This study examined the sensory and nutritional characteristics of seven different brands of complete unbalanced dietary supplements the powdered version, available in several flavors, four adults and three children, with marketing nationwide. Sensory analysis was performed by means of affective tests. We evaluated the data of nutritional content present on product labels for analysis of nutritional information. We observed a large difference between the levels of macro and micronutrients in food supplements and can say that they are not similar to each other. Food supplements indicated for pediatric patients had good index of acceptability and are sweeter and flavorful compared to food supplements indicated for use in adults. Two products were not considered well accepted in all flavors available. The chocolate and strawberry flavors were the best accepted and the banana flavor poorly accepted among tasters.