Dietary supplements and fortification

More than half of the Danish population use dietary supplements, several studies show. Dietary supplements are often fortified with vitamins, minerals or botanicals.

Vitamins and minerals

The National Food Institute performs safety assessments of vitamins and minerals. The assessments are used by the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (Fødevarestyrelsen) to set maximum levels of vitamins and minerals in food supplements, which ensures that consumers do not exceed the upper safe level of these compounds.

Food fortification with vitamins and minerals is becoming increasingly common in Denmark. To minimise the risk of overdosing, the National Food Institute has developed a model to estimate the extent to which foods can be enriched with vitamins and minerals without causing a health risk. This model combines data on toxicity with data on intake of vitamins and minerals from the food and supplements obtained from the Danish National Survey of Dietary Habits.

Assessments made by the National Food Institute ensure that all consumers, even those with very high intakes, do not exceed the established upper safe levels for vitamins and minerals.

Botanicals

Dietary supplemens may also be added botanicals from plants, fungi or algea. National Food Institute provides health asseessments of dietary supplements fortified with botanicals.