Essential and Non-essential Trace Elements in Milks and Plant-Based Drinks

Classification of Plant-Based Drinks Based on Volatile Compounds

The increasing popularity of plant-based drinks has led to an expanded consumer market. However, available quality control technologies for plant-based drinks are time-consuming and expensive. Two alternative quality control methods, gas chromatography with ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) and an electronic nose, were used to assess 111 plant-based drink samples. Principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) were used to compare 58 volatile organic compound areas of GC-IMS gallery plots and 63 peptide sensors of the electronic nose. PCA results showed that GC-IMS was only able to completely separate one sample, whereas the electronic nose was able to completely separate seven samples. LDA application to GC-IMS analyses resulted in classification accuracies ranging from 15.4% to 100%, whereas application to electronic nose analyses resulted in accuracies ranging from 96.2% to 100%. Both methods were useful for classification, but each had drawbacks, and the electronic nose performed slightly better than GC-IMS. This study represents one of the first studies comparing GC-IMS and an electronic nose for the analysis of plant-based drinks. Further research is necessary to improve these methods and establish a rapid, cost-effective food quality control system based on volatile organic compounds.

Mapping the evidence of novel plant-based foods: a systematic review of nutritional, health, and environmental impacts in high-income countries

CONTEXT

Shifting from current dietary patterns to diets rich in plant-based (PB) foods and lower in animal-based foods (ABFs) is generally regarded as a suitable strategy to improve nutritional health and reduce environmental impacts. Despite the recent growth in supply of and demand for novel plant-based foods (NPBFs), a comprehensive overview is lacking.

OBJECTIVES

This review provides a synthesis of available evidence, highlights challenges, and informs public health and environmental strategies for purposeful political decision-making by systematically searching, analyzing, and summarizing the available literature.

DATA SOURCES

Five peer-reviewed databases and grey literature sources were rigorously searched for publications.

DATA EXTRACTION

Study characteristics meeting the inclusion criteria regarding NPBF nutrient composition and health and environmental outcomes in high-income countries were extracted.

DATA ANALYSIS

Fifty-seven peer-reviewed and 36 grey literature sources were identified; these were published in 2016-2022. NPBFs typically have substantially lower environmental impacts than ABFs, but the nutritional contents are complex and vary considerably across brands, product type, and main primary ingredient. In the limited evidence on the health impacts, shifts from ABFs to PB meats were associated with positive health outcomes. However, results were mixed for PB drinks, with links to micronutrient deficiencies.

CONCLUSION

If carefully selected, certain NPBFs have the potential to be healthier and nutrient-rich alternatives to ABFs and typically have smaller environmental footprints. More disaggregated categorization of various types of NPBFs would be a helpful step in guiding consumers and key stakeholders to make informed decisions. To enable informed policymaking on the inclusion of NPBFs in dietary transitions as part of a wider net-zero and health strategy, future priorities should include nutritional food standards, labelling, and subdivisions or categorizations of NPBFs, as well as short- and long-term health studies evaluating dietary shifts from ABFs to NPBFs and standardized environmental impact assessments, ideally from independent funders.

Mercury and Autism Spectrum Disorder: Exploring the Link through Comprehensive Review and Meta-Analysis

Mercury (Hg) is a non-essential trace metal with unique neurochemical properties and harmful effects on the central nervous system. In this study, we present a comprehensive review and meta-analysis of peer-reviewed research encompassing five crucial clinical matrices: hair, whole blood, plasma, red blood cells (RBCs), and urine. We assess the disparities in Hg levels between gender- and age-matched neurotypical children (controls) and children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (cases). After applying rigorous selection criteria, we incorporated a total of 60 case-control studies into our meta-analysis. These studies comprised 25 investigations of Hg levels in hair (controls/cases: 1134/1361), 15 in whole blood (controls/cases: 1019/1345), 6 in plasma (controls/cases: 224/263), 5 in RBCs (controls/cases: 215/293), and 9 in urine (controls/cases: 399/623). This meta-analysis did not include the data of ASD children who received chelation therapy. Our meta-analysis revealed no statistically significant differences in Hg levels in hair and urine between ASD cases and controls. In whole blood, plasma, and RBCs, Hg levels were significantly higher in ASD cases compared to their neurotypical counterparts. This indicates that ASD children could exhibit reduced detoxification capacity for Hg and impaired mechanisms for Hg excretion from their bodies. This underscores the detrimental role of Hg in ASD and underscores the critical importance of monitoring Hg levels in ASD children, particularly in early childhood. These findings emphasize the pressing need for global initiatives aimed at minimizing Hg exposure, thus highlighting the critical intersection of human-environment interaction and neurodevelopment health.

Analysis of Eight Types of Plant-based Milk Alternatives from the United States Market for Target Minerals and Trace Elements

A wide variety of commercial plant-based foods that are marketed and sold as alternatives for milk (plant-based milk alternatives or PBMAs) are available to consumers. In this study, PBMAs from the United States (n=85) were subjected to analysis for target minerals (magnesium, phosphorus, selenium, and zinc) to compare their variability across PBMA types, brands, and production lots. Samples were also screened for the environmental contaminant elements arsenic, cadmium, and lead. The eight PBMA types sampled were produced from almond, cashew, coconut, hemp, oat, pea, rice, and soy. Elemental analysis was conducted using microwave-assisted acid digestion followed by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. The results showed that pea PBMAs contained the highest mean amounts of phosphorus, selenium, and zinc, while soy PBMAs were highest in magnesium. Mean amounts of minerals were lower than those found in milk for the majority of PBMA types. There was significant variation (P<0.05) in amounts of minerals across the majority of product brands. The amounts of phosphorus and magnesium varied across production lots (P<0.05), but the absolute value of these differences was low. Total arsenic was highest in rice PBMAs; amounts of cadmium and lead across PBMAs were generally found at low or non-quantifiable amounts. These results underscore the importance of generating analytical data on the elemental composition of products within the rapidly growing category of PBMA.

Market Basket Survey of the Micronutrients Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Calcium, and Potassium in Eight Types of Commercial Plant-Based Milk Alternatives from United States Markets

We performed a market basket survey of plant-based milk alternatives (PBMAs) from the US market for vitamin A, vitamin D, calcium, and potassium to identify the amount and variability of these micronutrients across various PBMAs. The PBMA types included in this analysis were almond, cashew, coconut, hemp, oat, pea, rice, and soy (n=90 total product units). Analyses for vitamin A (as retinyl palmitate), vitamin D2/D3, and minerals were performed using high-performance liquid chromatography, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, respectively. A majority of PBMA types had significant differences (P<0.05) in the amounts of target micronutrients across brands. The coefficient of variation (%CV) for micronutrient concentrations within one lot of a single brand ranged from 4.1-42.2% for vitamin A, 1.5-44.1% for vitamin D, 1.7%-37.6% for calcium, and 0.7%-39.0% for potassium. The variability of these micronutrients should be taken into account when considering the nutritional value of PBMAs.