ABSTRACT
The term "special dietary use" as applied to food used by man means a particular use for which an article purports or represented to be used. Two main categories of dietary foods are foods which meet the special nutritional needs of people suffering from abnormal physiological conditions such as deficiency states and metabolic disorders, and foods which are designed to meet normal physiological conditions such as those for infants and children, for pregnant and breast-feeding women, for the aged, and foods with supplementary nutrients required by intensive physical exertion or special environmental conditions. Low gluten foods are recommended in coeliac disease. This disorder is characterized by poor absorption of fat and other nutrients, abdominal distension, and loss of weight. Low phenylalanine foods are prepared by hydrolyzing a protein such as casein and passing it through an activated charcoal column which traps phenylalanine. In this process, tryptophan, tyrosine, and cystine are also lost.
