Dietetics and health food store products

Dietetics is believed to have originated in Asia. As long ago as 1000 years B.C., ancient Indian medicine diagnosed how nutrition and the associated intolerances are related. Around the same time, traditional Chinese nutritional theory postulated the health-promoting effect of a balanced nutrient composition.

In Europe, the basics of the dietetic way of life developed in the 4th century B.C. under Hippocrates. According to the Hippocratic tradition, dietetics is characterised as a holistic salutogenetic concept: regulated life, physical activity and healthy nutrition.

Galen picked up on this basic idea during the era of the Roman Empire. From this he developed the basis of the "six unnatural things" ("sex res non naturales"):

• Light and air (lux et aer)
• Food and drink (cibus et potus)
• Movement and rest (motus et quies or exercitium)
• Sleep and being awake (somnus et vigilia)
• Secretions and excretions (secreta et excreta)
• Stimulation of the mind (affectus animi or accidentia animae)

In the Renaissance, the theory of healthy nutrition experienced a new upswing through the enlightenment. The assumption that the individual areas of human life are interconnected was increasingly replaced by differentiating and analytical views. The focus lay increasingly on nutritional issues. Various new nutritional theories attracted growing attention at this time. These also include macrobiotics. In 1796, Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland wrote the work "Macrobiotics, or the art of prolonging human life".

The importance of dietetics has changed

Today, dietetics also stands for the selective advice and supply of health-conscious interested parties with specially manufactured food. The motto is: healing and health promotion to increase well-being and quality of life. Dietetics is the key approach to the therapy or prophylaxis of diet-related diseases.

Interesting; AM 1500 cone mixer with easy filling and emptying

Diseases of wealth

Overweight is often the main cause of many lifestyle diseases. There is no way around reduction diets to reduce body weight. The diet is changed to a calorie-reduced mixed diet and a new eating behaviour is trained. The Atkins diet, the fat diet according to Dr Felix, the blood group diet or the Max Planck diet, for example, are based on scientific aspects. Many diseases of the gastrointestinal tract can be treated by nutrition. The effects of gastritis, coeliac disease, lactose intolerance, constipation or Crohn's disease are reduced by dietetics. A normal whole food diet is followed, avoiding foods that cause discomfort. In addition, the gastrointestinal tract is supported by clean eating and ketogenic nutrition. With a ketogenic diet, the energy metabolism in the body is consciously changed by eating a low-carbohydrate but high-fat diet.

Diseases of the liver, such as fatty liver or cirrhosis of the liver, can have many causes. Low-fat natural food that is rich in vitamins is recommended here.

Sometimes diseases of the biliary tract (gallstones, etc.), pancreas (chronic and acute pancreatitis, etc.), bones (osteoporosis) or metabolic diseases (diabetes mellitus, cystic fibrosis, lipid metabolism disorder, etc.) are due to malnutrition.

In order to prevent them through dietetics, a variety of nutritional theories have been developed. Many of them are still applied to day for a wide range of symptoms: whole food nutrition, vegetarianism, veganism, raw food, macrobiotics, food combining, the nutritional theory of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), nutrition according to the five elements, the nutritional theory according to Ayurveda, the nutritional theory of anthroposophy.

Undernourishment or malnutrition can also have physiological causes. Hasty eating can be responsible for suppressing the feeling of being full or hungry.

The media around us should stimulate our needs: Alcohol should make us relax, chocolate should create a feeling of happiness, ice cream should reward us. Emotional drinking and eating should satisfy us as a substitute. However, the prerequisite for a sustainably disciplined diet is a holistic therapy approach in order to balance as many aspects of the daily routine as possible.

Alternatives to traditional foods are often available in powder form

Many diseases, especially in the area of the gastrointestinal tract, are due to food intolerances, intolerances to certain ingredients or allergies. Gluten, a protein found in many cereals, is in many cases responsible for the clinical picture of coeliac disease with abdominal pain, diarrhoea and flatulence. So it is obvious that consumers are looking for alternatives to conventional, traditional foods that do not contain certain ingredients. Another important aspect is weight loss, which is to be supported, for example, by a low-carbohydrate diet. Gluten-free and low-carbohydrate products are therefore in great demand, especially when they are easy to manufacture.

Many of these products are therefore available in powder form, and more than a few even as powder mixtures. Even more often, however, a powdery mixture is a component of many dry, moist and liquid diet nutrients. The powder processing is therefore of particular importance. For example, it is mixtures of spices, flavourings, natural colours and dietary fibres that ensure a balanced taste and good digestibility. Vital trace elements such as iron, calcium, zinc, iodine, copper, selenium, chromium, fluorine, potassium, sodium, magnesium and phosphorus must be prepared as a premix - finely distributed and deagglomerated. This also applies to encapsulated vitamins, probiotics and prebiotics. For this purpose, amixon GmbH, based in Paderborn, manufactures seven different vertical precision mixing systems with the greatest vertical range of manufacture. amixon GmbH is thus the undisputed system and quality leader in this important segment.

Residue-free discharge and flexibility are competitive advantages

Depending on taste preferences and nutritional goals, there are countless dietary product groups that are packaged as powder after mixing in cans, sachets, pouches or blisters. The production plant works all the more flexibly and economically the fewer mixing material residues remain in it. In this respect, great attention must be paid to residual discharge. The residues that nevertheless remain must be removed either dry or wet. amixon^® has excellent solutions and will be happy to demonstrate these important secondary operations to you in the technical center.