Metabolomics: applications to food science and nutrition research

Metabolomics is an emerging field of “omics” research that focuses on high-throughput characterization of small molecule metabolites in biological matrices. As such, metabolomics is ideally positioned to be used in many areas of food science and nutrition research. This review focuses on the recent trends and potential applications of metabolomics in four areas of food science and technology: (1) food component analysis; (2) food quality/authenticity assessment; (3) food consumption monitoring; and (4) physiological monitoring in food intervention or diet challenge studies.