Macro-and micronutrients in raw plant foods: the similarities and implication for dietary diversity

Authors: LI, YING - University Of Maryland; BAHADUR, RAHUL - University Of Maryland; Ahuja, Jaspreet; Pehrsson, Pamela; Harnly, James - Jim

Submitted to: Journal of Food Composition and Analysis
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/21/2021
Publication Date: 6/1/2021
Publication URL: https://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/7405117
Citation: Li, Y., Bahadur, R., Ahuja, J.K., Pehrsson, P.R., Harnly, J.M. 2021. Macro-and micronutrients in raw plant foods: the similarities and implication for dietary diversity. Nature Food. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2021.103993.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2021.103993

Interpretive Summary: One in three people in the world suffer from some form of malnutrition. A possible solution to tackle malnutrition is dietary diversity, especially diversifying plant food consumption. However, there has not been a suitable method to guide the acquisition of balanced nutrients from diverse plant sources. Here, we report a tool for grouping raw plant foods with similar nutrients for diversification purposes. We analyzed the correlations among 25 macro- and micro-nutrients of 268 raw plant foods across five food categories to understand how nutrients associate in each category, then visualized the distribution patterns of plant foods and their nutrients using principal component analysis. Furthermore, the foods formed 4 clusters using cluster analysis. The tool developed here can be used for dietary diversification as a potential solution to combat malnutrition, or for industrial food re-formulation with ingredients of similar compositions. Alternatively, the method described here can be used to perform other food groupings, such as protein food taxonomy based on amino acid compositions, recipe taxonomy, food culture/culinary taxonomy, etc.

Technical Abstract: One in three people in the world suffer from some form of malnutrition. A possible solution to tackle malnutrition is dietary diversity, especially diversifying plant food consumption. However, there has not been a suitable method to guide the acquisition of balanced nutrients from diverse plant sources. Here, we report a tool for grouping raw plant foods with similar nutrients for diversification purposes. We analyzed the correlations among 25 macro- and micro-nutrients of 268 raw plant foods across five food categories to understand how nutrients associate in each category, then visualized the distribution patterns of plant foods and their nutrients using principal component analysis. Furthermore, the foods formed 4 clusters using cluster analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first report to develop a nutrient-based food grouping system. Importantly, this process can be used to guide the development of other food grouping systems for nutrient diversification.