Original Research ArticleAmino acid profile of foods from the Portuguese Total Diet Pilot Study
Introduction
Amino acids are classified as either nutritionally indispensable, conditionally essential, or non-essential for humans. Indispensable amino acids are defined as either those amino acids whose carbon skeletons cannot be synthesised or those that are synthesised de novo by the body more slowly than they are required, and which must, therefore, be obtained through the diet in order to meet the body’s optimal requirements. The amino acid compositions of typical foods such as seafood, meat, dairy, and cereals are usually obtained from Food Composition Databanks. However, although being an important component of our diet, the amino acid contents of food commonly consumed by certain populations are rarely measured systematically. The most comprehensive study has been published on the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) database, which includes amino acid composition data of over 5000 food items (US Department of Agriculture and Agricultural Service, 2016). However, as foods are prepared in widely varying ways around the world, the same types of food but consumed by different populations, importantly using different food processing and cooking methods, are expected to produce interregional differences in amino acid content for the same food type.
The amino acid intake of a population can be assessed by the combination of food consumption data with food analytical data from samples collected according to Total Diet Study methodologies (Vin et al., 2014). Representativeness of food items analysed is an issue of crucial importance to guarantee an estimation of intake close to reality. Hence, Total Diet Study is a methodology used in many countries and comes recommended by both the World Health Organization and the European Food Safety Authority (European Food Safety Authority et al., 2011) to assess nutrient intake of populations as it ensures the representativeness of the foods analysed. This approach is based on information obtained from national food consumption surveys, from which a hypothetical representative diet may be reconstructed using commercially available food products. This methodology also addresses the impact of most popular cooking processes on nutrient content. However, estimation of retention factors, which are quite relevant to the analysis of diets, including raw foods, are commonly avoided in amino acid studies due to difficulties to characterise the variance.
Until now, Portugal has no analytical data for the amino acid profile of foods typically consumed by the Portuguese population. Therefore, the objective of this study is to evaluate the amino acid profile of foods representative of the Portuguese diet, with a particular focus on indispensable amino acid levels of food products produced in Portugal. We also aim to assess the amino acid intake of the Portuguese population and the most common sources of individual amino acids within the Portuguese diet.
Section snippets
Sampling plan
Food identification and selection, including food preparation habits of the population, were based on the Portuguese food consumption survey, as described by Pité et al. (2018). Food consumption data analysed under the Total Diet Study study was performed according to Dofkova et al. (2016). The data was assigned by one 24 -h dietary recall method applied to 3529 individuals from both sexes with ages from 18 to 93 years old from all regions of Portugal, including the Madeira and Azores islands.
Amino acid composition
The total protein and the contents of the seventeen amino acid in the six food groups studied are presented in Table 2, Table 3. Values represent the median, minimum and maximum of four replicate determinations. Tryptophan (Try) could not be analysed due to the degradation of this amino acid during acid hydrolysis, which was used during sample preparation. Total protein ranged from 2.79 g/100 g in yoghurts (natural, flavoured, fruit, or cereals) to 33.4 g/100 g in seitan.
Among the dairy
Conclusions
In this study, we described the amino acid content in commonly consumed foods of the Portuguese population, which estimates the amino acid intake of the population. The Portuguese diet is characterised by high red meat consumption, although white meat and fatty fish are also major contributors to the recommended intake of essential amino acids by the Portuguese population. Presently, few occurrence data are available for amino acids in food, and the available data only relates to a specific
Author agreement statement
The authors whose names are listed immediately below certify that the undersigned declare that the manuscript title “Amino acid profile of foods from the Portuguese Total Diet Pilot Study and amino acid intake of the Portuguese adult population” is original, has not been published before and is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere.
We confirm that the manuscript has been read and approved by all named authors and that there are no other persons who satisfied the criteria for
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors whose names are listed immediately below certify that they have NO affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest (such as honoraria; educational grants; participation in speakers’ bureaus; membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest; and expert testimony or patentlicensing arrangements), or non-financial interest (such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs) in
Acknowledgements
The scientific work was funded by the TDS Project, funded by European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 739568. GB Gonzales is a postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). We thank the FCT - MCTES for its financial support via the project UID/EMS/00667/2019 (UNIDEMI). We also thank Dr. Karl De Ruyck for his help in proofreading the manuscript.
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