NMR-Based Metabolomics of Food

Abstract

NMR spectroscopy is one of the major analytical techniques used in the metabolomics studies of food. There are many applications of metabolomics on food-related topics and on the food itself. Here, we describe protocols for performing NMR-based metabolomics of foods ranging from simple beverages to solid foods and semisolid foods. Beverages can be analyzed either directly or after sample preprocessing to remove interfering macromolecules, muscle-based foods can be analyzed after extraction, and semisolid foods can be analyzed directly using high-resolution magic-angle spinning (HR-MAS) NMR. Finally, we discuss metabolomic data analysis as well as different procedures and strategies for targeted and untargeted approaches.

Keywords: Beverages; Food composition; Food constituents; Food metabolites; Liquid phase; Micronutrients; Milk; Muscle; Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy; Solid phase.