Blood Test For Dietary Biomarkers Will Make Future Studies More Reliable

A new form of blood test that measures diet-related biomarkers is more accurate in determining dietary compliance than relying on participant questionnaires, according to a multinational team of Scandinavian researchers. Self-reported dietary data are biased and not reliable, making it difficult to tell whether a specific diet is actually working. Dietary biomarkers are compounds related to certain foods or nutrients that are measurable in bodily tissues and fluids, such as blood. In the Nordic SYSDIET study, for example, participants were supposed to eat berries, vegetables, fatty fish, canola oil, and whole grains. The researchers found that several blood biomarkers showed whether the key dietary components were actually being consumed.