Nutraceuticals are products isolated or purified from foods and generally are sold in medicinal form as a supplement rather than as a food. This definition encompasses a wide range of compounds: vitamins, minerals, herbs or other botanicals, amino acids, and substances such as enzymes, organ tissues, glandular materials, and metabolites.

Foods for Special Medical Purposes (FSMPs) are a new class of therapeutics, which can be used under medical control to cure diseases and alleviate symptoms.

Emerging literature suggests that diet constituents may play a modulatory role in chronic pain through management of inflammation/oxidative stress, resulting in attenuation of pain.

Nutraceuticals and FSMPs may have some role in the modulation of pain signals to and within the nervous system.

Very few randomised controlled trials in humans are present in the literature and, as such, the current situation does not allow us to fully support the use of nutraceuticals and FSMPs on a broader basis.