Holistic properties of foods: a changing paradigm in human nutrition

Traditionally, the study of nutrition has been based on a reductionist approach, reducing a food to its constituent nutrients and then investigating the effects of these nutrients, either singly or together, on metabolism and metabolic outcomes. Nutrients are not consumed in isolation but, rather, are consumed in the form of foods. For this reason, the complex food matrix itself influences nutritional outcomes, which often cannot be fully explained on the basis of the effects of 'the sum of the nutrients' alone. Nutrient additivity effects, nutrient interactions, effects of food components other than the classical nutrients, effects of the food matrix for single foods and combinations of foods consumed as meals on the kinetics of nutrient digestion and subsequent metabolism and metabolic outcomes are discussed. A paradigm shift in human nutrition is needed, with more consideration being given to the holistic effects of specific foods and mixtures of foods constituting meals and diets. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.