Nutritional balance of corn chips (descriptive statistics) (3e) - 2012

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Data

[PEREZGONZALEZ Jose D (2012). Nutritional balance of corn chips (descriptive statistics) (3e)⁴. Knowledge (ISSN 2324-1624), 2013, pages 56-59.] [DOI] [Printer friendly]

BNI of corn chips (description)

Perezgonzalez assessed the nutritional balance of corn chips⁵ in 2012², as part of a research on the nutritional composition of snacks in New Zealand. This article provides descriptive information both about the sample of products under research (foodBNI) and about a hypothetical diet based on those products (dietBNI).

foodBNI

The distribution of nutritional balance, as shown in illustration 1, clustered between BNI 41 (P₁₆) and BNI 75 (P₈₄), with the median located at BNI 59.22. There was a slight skewness towards lower levels of unbalance (mean=BNI 58.12, zSkew=-0.98).

Above nutritional pattern was almost similar under WHO's recommended dietary intakes (RDIs) but appeared somehow less unbalanced under US', Australia's and UK's RDIs. The overall shape of the distributions was similar under BNI's and WHO's standards, on the one hand, and under US', Australia's and UK's standards, on the other.

Illustration 1: Food's nutritional balance distribution
		International RDIs
Scale	BNI	WHO	US/CAN	AUS/NZ	UK
=0
>0
≥10					3
≥20	2	3	4	3	9
≥30	2	5	8	8	1
≥40	7	4	7	8	6
≥50	8	7	13	13	13
≥60	6	6	5	5	5
≥70	12	12
≥80
≥90
≥100
≥110
≥120
≥130
≥140
≥150
≥160
≥170
≥180
≥190
≥200
Median	59.22	59.22	49.22	49.22	49.22
SPR	16.95	18.53	14.08	13.57	19.09
P16	40.69	37.54	31.23	32.24	21.20
P84	74.59	74.59	59.38	59.38	59.38
RSkew	-1.58	-3.16	-3.92	-3.41	-8.93
Mean	58.12	57.21	46.09	46.65	43.73
StDev	14.85	15.87	12.89	12.23	15.62
zSkew	-0.98	-1.00	-1.41	-1.36	-1.25
zKurt	-1.31	-1.46	-1.19	-1.16	-1.82
Unstandardized	small	medium	large	( Avg.StDev )
effect size6	3	7	11	( 14 )

Correlations between indexes were high, thus supporting the idea of a common pattern in the distribution of nutritional balance across international indexes for this particular group of products.

Illustration 2: Correlations (Pearson and Spearman)
r / rho	BNI	WHO	US/CAN	AUS/NZ	UK
BNI		.999	.992	.992	.987
WHO	.999		.993	.992	.987
US/CAN	.992	.995		.999	.991
AUS/NZ	.995	.996	.998		.994
UK	.969	.978	.972	.977

dietBNI

As part of a hypothetical diet where all products contributed the same weight of chips, the resulting nutritional composition of such diet would still be unbalanced (dietBNI 57.78), sensibly less so when fiber is estimated (dietBNI 49.44). Such diet would "benefit" the most under UK's RDIs (dietBNI 27.37).

Illustration 3: Diet's nutritional balance (corn chips)
Protein	Carbs	Sugar	Fat	Sat.fat	Fiber	Sodium
7.3	58.9	2.5	25.2	8.7	3.7*	0.590
International RDIs		BNI	WHO	US/CAN	AUS/NZ	UK
(diet, fiber unest.)		57.78	54.58	42.21	42.47	37.93
(diet, fiber est.*)		49.44	46.98	36.18	36.71	27.37
(Values per 100g; *fiber content estimated from Doritos Burn2)

Methods

Research approach

Exploratory study for mapping the nutritional balance of corn chips⁵ in New Zealand.

Sample

Stratified sample of 37 corn chip products, including generic and proprietary brands, diverse flavors and other relevant categories (see Perezgonzalez, 2012 ²). Notwithstanding this, the actual products were collected in a convenient manner from four major national supermarket chains. The final sample covered the population of corn chip products available at those supermarkets.

Variables

Variables of interest for this research were the following:

• Weight contribution of seven nutrients (protein, carbohydrate, sugar, fat, saturated fat, fiber and sodium) to 100g of a food product.
• The Balanced Nutrition Index (BNI) of each food product, as calculated from above variables.
• Aggregated information for the sample of products (foodBNI).
• Aggregated information about the individual nutrients for the simulation of a corn-chip-based diet (dietBNI).

Materials & analysis

Relevant data were collated after purchasing the food products or by capturing such information from the producers' websites if this information was available and was deemed reliable. The data were then assessed using the Balanced Nutrition Index™ (BNI™) technology (see Perezgonzalez, 2011¹). Inconsistently reported data for fiber were estimated for the aggregated variable dietBNI from 'Doritos Burn', the product with the lowest fiber content.

SPSS-v18 was used for the computation of variables, including BNI and international indexes, and for descriptive statistical analyses.

References

References

1. PEREZGONZALEZ Jose D (2011). Balanced Nutrition Index™ (BNI™). Journal of Knowledge Advancement & Integration (ISSN 1177-4576), 2011, pages 20-21.

2. PEREZGONZALEZ Jose D (2012a). Corn utopia. The Balanced Nutrition Index (ISSN 1177-8849), 2012, issue 6.

3. PEREZGONZALEZ Jose D (2012b). Nutritional balance of corn chips (descriptive statistics) (2e). Journal of Knowledge Advancement & Integration (ISSN 1177-4576), 2012, pages 275-278.

+++ Notes +++

4. This edition updates the previous one³ by providing information about unstandardized effect sizes, adding illustration 2 and revising the interpretations of unbalance.

5. They include both corn chips and tortilla chips. Thus, they can be defined as thin shapes of pressed cornmeal (usually cut into triangles or circles), and then oven-baked or deep-fried.

6. This is the estimated unstandardized effect size for group differences (Cohen's d and Glass's Δ) given an average standard deviation and following Cohen's d effect size interpretation. It can be used to ascertain the relative importance of descriptive data without the need to perform inferential tests.

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Outdated versions

PEREZGONZALEZ Jose D (2012). Nutritional balance of corn chips (descriptive statistics). Journal of Knowledge Advancement & Integration (ISSN 1177-4576), 2012, pages 255-258.
PEREZGONZALEZ Jose D (2012b). Nutritional balance of corn chips (descriptive statistics) (2e). Journal of Knowledge Advancement & Integration (ISSN 1177-4576), 2012, pages 275-278.

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Author

Jose D PEREZGONZALEZ (2012). Massey University, Turitea Campus, Private Bag 11-222, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand. (JDPerezgonzalez).

Want to know more?

BNI analysis of individual corn chip products

You can access either the BNI™ database or the 'BNI™ journal (2012, issue 6) - Corn utopia' for individual nutrition analyses of each food product in the sample.

Wiki of Science - Nutritional balance of corn chips (further knowledge)

Two Wiki of Science pages provide further introductory and inferential information about the nutritional balance of corn chips.

Wiki of Science - Nutritional balance of foods

This Wiki of Science page collates information about several foods on a single page and provides useful links to the appropriate files.

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