Medical Foods for the management of Chronic Illness and their Regulations in India, US and European Union

As many chronic illnesses are incurable and require repeated treatments, this problem contributes to long-term drug use. But when it comes to managing and treating chronic illnesses, medical foods can provide an alternative to natural medications. Medical foods are foods that have been particularly prepared to meet the unique dietary needs of people with specific illnesses. When it comes to therapeutic applications such as deglutition, dyspepsia, or eating disorders, they are crucial in providing patients with nutritional support. In addition, they significantly improve patients' quality of life by lowering drug use, averting problems that could result from an excessive reliance on pharmaceuticals, and saving treatment costs. Depending on the illness, medical foods' nutritional content can be adjusted and customized. They are exempt from laws pertaining to drugs since they are not drugs. Every medical food is created especially for the chronic condition in question. As a result, the purpose of this review is to clarify the use of medical foods for conditions such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, anxiety and sleep disorders, pain syndrome, cancer, congenital metabolic disorders, and diabetes mellitus, and to suggest their use as a dietary supplement for these long-term illnesses.