Chitosan is derived from shellfish and is a linear polysaccharide, commonly used in medical circles as a haemostatic agent. Chitosan is deemed hypoallergenic and has properties which seem to rapidly clot blood, prompting the use in gauze dressings and bandages. Chitosan bandages used on battlefields in Iraq showed drastic increases in survival of wounded army personnel. As a nutritional supplement, chitosan is often marketed as a fat attractor. It is deemed a nutritional fiber and supposed to bind lipids in digestive tract, not allowing them to enter the blood stream and be stored in fat cells. Sometimes paired with glucomannan, this new supposed weight loss supplement has not yet received any pertinent clinical trials, which would prove its effectiveness, but some bile acid circulation interruption has been officially registered, partly proving the claims.

Vitamin C is an obvious essential nutrient and a deficiency of this will cause scurvy. It is also an antioxidant and acts as an electron donor for eight different enzymes.