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. 2022 May 3:9:874312.
doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.874312. eCollection 2022.

Foodomics: A Data-Driven Approach to Revolutionize Nutrition and Sustainable Diets

Selena Ahmed  1   2 , John de la Parra  3   4 , Ismahane Elouafi  5 , Bruce German  6 , Andy Jarvis  7 , Vincent Lal  8 , Anna Lartey  9 , T Longvah  10 , Carlos Malpica  11 , Natalia Vázquez-Manjarrez  12 , Jessica Prenni  13 , Carlos A Aguilar-Salinas  12 , Warangkana Srichamnong  14 , Maya Rajasekharan  7 , Tracy Shafizadeh  15 , Justin Bloomfield Siegel  6 , Roy Steiner  3 , Joe Tohme  7 , Steve Watkins  15
Affiliations

Foodomics: A Data-Driven Approach to Revolutionize Nutrition and Sustainable Diets

Selena Ahmed et al. Front Nutr. .

Abstract

Globally, we are failing to meet numerous nutritional, health, and environmental targets linked to food. Defining food composition in its full chemical and quantitative diversity is central to data-driven decision making for supporting nutrition and sustainable diets. "Foodomics"-the application of omics-technology to characterize and quantify biomolecules to improve wellbeing-has the potential to comprehensively elucidate what is in food, how this composition varies across the food system, and how diet composition as an ensemble of foods guides outcomes for nutrition, health, and sustainability. Here, we outline: (i) challenges of evaluating food composition; (ii) state-of-the-art omics technology and innovations for the analysis of food; and (iii) application of foodomics as a complementary data-driven approach to revolutionize nutrition and sustainable diets. Featuring efforts of the Periodic Table of Food Initiative, a participatory effort to create a globally shared foodomics platform, we conclude with recommendations to accelerate foodomics in ways that strengthen the capacity of scientists and benefit all people.

Keywords: food analysis; food biomolecules; food composition; mass spectrometry; omics technology.

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Conflict of interest statement

SA was employed by the American Heart Association, Inc. TS and SW was employed by the Verso Biosciences, Inc. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Application of foodomics across the food system. Foodomics can be applied across the food system to enhance human and planetary health.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Variability of apple analytes across labs. The Periodic Table of Food Initiative sent identical apple reference sample material to three high-profile laboratories and found tremendous variation in the analytes identified and annotated between the labs. These findings highlight the lack of standardization in food composition analysis while calling for the need for standardized pipelines for analysis and data processing.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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