Review examines how dietary supplements may support lipid and carbohydrate metabolism

A new narrative review published in Eating and Weight Disorders – Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity examines how dietary supplements fit into the broader goal of maintaining health and well-being, using lipid and carbohydrate metabolism as illustrative examples.

The review, authored by Andrea Poli, Arrigo Francesco G. Cicero, Carlo La Vecchia, Francesco Landi, Maria Daglia and Vitalia Murgia, was published as an open-access article on 1 October 2026. The version currently available is a peer-reviewed, accepted manuscript shared early, which the publisher notes is subject to further edits before the final Version of Record.

At the heart of the paper is a conceptual argument: health should not be understood simply as the absence of disease, but as a dynamic state of balance based on the body’s ability to adapt, self-regulate and maintain functionality over time. Well-being, in this framing, represents the subjective expression of that balance and of an individual’s physiological, mental and social resilience.

Within that framework, the authors situate dietary supplements, which they note are increasingly used not only to prevent nutritional deficiencies but also to support the physiological processes that contribute to maintaining health.

The review is explicit about the challenges of evidence generation in this field. The authors state that obtaining evidence on the efficacy of dietary supplements is complex, and that research methods may need to be adapted in order to determine their efficacy. This is a methodological point rather than a claim about any specific product’s effectiveness.

To illustrate their approach, the authors present selected case studies of three supplement categories: dietary fibre, phytosterols and bergamot. Each is discussed in the context of its intended role in maintaining normal lipid and carbohydrate metabolism.

Because the paper is a narrative review, it does not report new clinical trial results. Its contribution lies in organising existing knowledge and proposing a conceptual structure for thinking about supplements in relation to metabolic health, rather than in establishing efficacy through new data.

Readers should interpret the case studies as examples of the authors’ framework rather than as treatment recommendations. The review’s own emphasis on the difficulty of generating efficacy evidence for supplements underscores that conclusions in this area require careful, adapted research methods.

The article is available open access, and the publisher reports that it has already recorded 62 accesses in the early days since its online publication.

Subject of Research: A narrative review of dietary supplements in supporting lipid and carbohydrate metabolism

Article Title: The role of dietary supplements in disease prevention and in maintaining health and well-being: lipid and carbohydrate metabolism as examples

Article References: Poli, A., Cicero, A. F. G., La Vecchia, C., Landi, F., Daglia, M., & Murgia, V. (2026). The role of dietary supplements in disease prevention and in maintaining health and well-being: lipid and carbohydrate metabolism as examples. Eating and Weight Disorders – Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-026-01894-w

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s40519-026-01894-w

Keywords: dietary supplements, narrative review, lipid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, dietary fibre, phytosterols, bergamot, health and well-being, disease prevention, nutrition, role, dietary