:2971

Summary

This paper, published in Nutrients in 2022, explores biofortification of vegetables as a practical dietary approach to addressing micronutrient inadequacies in physically active populations, who often have elevated requirements for minerals and vitamins. The authors, affiliated with Italian institutions, review or assess the potential of agronomic or genetic biofortification strategies to enhance the nutritional quality of commonly consumed vegetables. The work contributes to growing evidence that food-based strategies, rather than supplementation alone, may support micronutrient sufficiency in active individuals.

UK applicability

Whilst conducted in an Italian context, the findings are broadly applicable to UK conditions given comparable dietary patterns, vegetable consumption habits, and shared EU-derived dietary reference values; UK horticulture and public health policy could draw on this work to support biofortification as a complementary strategy to supplementation guidance for active populations.

Key measures

Micronutrient concentrations in biofortified vegetables (e.g. mg/kg fresh or dry weight); estimated daily intakes relative to dietary reference values for physically active individuals

Outcomes reported

The study examined whether consumption of biofortified vegetables could meaningfully contribute to micronutrient intake in physically active people, likely assessing mineral concentrations in biofortified crops and estimated dietary sufficiency against recommended intakes for this population group.

Topic tags