While an abundance of cohort studies has suggested that greater consumption of fruits and vegetables (FVs) is associated with reduced risk of chronic diseases, current self-report based dietary assessment tools are susceptible to biases that can reduce their accuracy in estimating dietary intakes, and consequently, the risk estimates obtained from this research. As a result, considerable attention has been directed towards the identification and validation of dietary biomarkers, which represent a more objective method for estimating FV intake and have the potential to improve the validity of future epidemiological studies concerning FV intake and its relationship with health outcomes. Several biomarkers, including urinary potassium, flavonoids, hippuric acid, serum/plasma and erythrocyte folate, serum/plasma vitamin C, and blood and skin carotenoids, appear to offer promise as FV intake biomarkers. However, many possess important limitations that have not been thoroughly explored and addressed, and continued efforts are being made to discover others that may offer further advantages in relation to the cost, ease, and invasiveness of measurement methods. Therefore, this review seeks to discuss the characteristics of a reliable FV intake biomarker, describe and detail the benefits and limitations of existing candidates, and highlight areas where further research may be required.
Madore et al. (Thu,) studied this question.