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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition and Metabolism
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1497207
This article is part of the Research Topic Functional Foods for Metabolic Health View all 13 articles

Global Hotspots and Trends of Nutritional Supplements for Sick Populations from 2000 to 2024

Provisionally accepted
Chaofan Shi Chaofan Shi Haitao Liu Haitao Liu *Te Fu Te Fu Yuanquan Li Yuanquan Li Haichang Zhao Haichang Zhao Feiyue Liu Feiyue Liu
  • Henan University, Kaifeng, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Nutritional supplements (NS) can help patients by providing various nutrients such as essential vitamins and minerals, helping to prevent and recover from diseases. This study provides a broad overview of the field of NS for sick people through bibliometrics and visualization analysis, to analyze the status and development dynamics, explore the popular research questions and directions, and reveal the development trends and research frontiers.Methods: We searched the Web of Science Core Collection databases for literature related to NS for diseased populations from 2000 to 2024. A total of 1550 articles were included in the analysis after screening. Analyses performed using CiteSpace and VOSviewer software.Results: The field of NS for the sick population has witnessed an overall rapid growth in the number of publications, which is divided into three phases: 2000-2008 was the exploratory phase, 2009-2017 was the sustained development phase, and 2018 to date is in the rapid development phase. Research focuses on dietary supplementation, oxidative stress, in vitro injections, development, antioxidant activity, double-blind trials, lipid supplements, functional foods, the health of diseased populations, and the risks of NS.Conclusion: Different supplements each possess unique benefits and should be chosen according to the type of disease to ensure they contain the corresponding nutrients. Vitamin supplements are widely mentioned among patient populations across the globe. Future trends may focus on applying nutritional supplements in gut microbiota and bioactive compounds. Researchers frequently mention the application of NS in women, infants, and children. It should continue to be monitored and optimized in the future to enhance its therapeutic effects, thereby accelerating patients' recovery and improving their quality of life.

    Keywords: Sick people, Nutritional supplements, Malnutrition, Bibliometrics, Citespace, VOSviewer

    Received: 16 Sep 2024; Accepted: 13 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Shi, Liu, Fu, Li, Zhao and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Haitao Liu, Henan University, Kaifeng, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.