BNI of potato chips (description)

Perezgonzalez assessed the nutritional balance of potato chips⁶ 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) as well as about a hypothetical diet based on those products (dietBNI).

foodBNI

The distribution of nutritional balance, as shown in illustration 1, clustered between BNI 80 (P₁₆) and BNI 98 (P₈₄), with the median located at BNI 82.65. There was also a perceptible skewness towards higher levels of unbalance (mean=BNI 86.50, zSkew=3.39).

This distribution of nutritional balance was identical under WHO's recommended dietary intakes (RDIs), but less unbalanced under US', Australia's or UK's RDIs. The overall shape of all distributions was quite similar among the different sets of RDIs, though.

Illustration 1: Food's nutritional balance distribution
		International RDIs
Scale	BNI	WHO	US/CAN	AUS/NZ	UK
=0
>0
≥10
≥20
≥30
≥40
≥50			3	3	3
≥60	1	1	24	24	24
≥70	12	12	22	22	22
≥80	32	32	9	9	9
≥90	10	10	5	5	5
≥100	6	6
≥110	2	2
≥120
≥130
≥140
≥150
≥160
≥170
≥180
≥190
≥200

Median	82.65	82.65	70.61	70.61	70.61
SPR	9.33	9.33	7.09	7.09	7.09
P₁₆	79.71	79.71	68.60	68.60	68.60
P₈₄	98.37	98.37	82.78	82.78	82.78
RSkew	6.39	6.39	5.08	5.08	5.08

Mean	86.50	86.50	73.43	73.43	73.43
StDev	10.46	10.46	8.77	8.77	8.77
zSkew	3.39	3.39	2.62	2.62	2.62
zKurt	0.97	0.97	1.43	1.43	1.43

Unstandardized	small	medium	large	( Avg.StDev )
effect size⁷	2	5	8	( 9 )

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		1.000	.891	.891	.891
WHO	1.000		.891	.891	.891
US/CAN	.983	.983		1.000	1.000
AUS/NZ	.983	.983	1.000		1.000
UK	.983	.983	1.000	1.000

dietBNI

As part of a hypothetical diet where all products contributed the same weight of chips, the resulting nutritional unbalance would improve slightly for most indexes (about 2 units on the scale, when fiber is not estimated). This diet may, however, be less unbalanced than initially described when including an estimated amount of fiber into the equation in order to compensate for those products which did not provide such information. Although the resulting diet would still be extremely unbalanced (when attending to the unstandardized effect size for this group), such diet will "benefit" most under the US, AUS and, especially, the UK indexes.

Illustration 3: Diet's nutritional balance (potato chips)
Protein	Carbs	Sugar	Fat	Sat.fat	Fiber	Sodium
5.9	50.6	1.7	32.5	11.9	4.4*	0.369
International RDIs		BNI	WHO	US/CAN	AUS/NZ	UK
(diet, fiber unest.)		84.78	84.78	70.61	70.61	70.61
(diet, fiber est.*)		70.12	67.18	56.64	57.27	46.16
(Values per 100g; fiber content estimated from USDA database⁴)*

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 products: You can access either the BNI™ database or the 'BNI™ journal (2012, issue 5) - Tasty taytos' for individual nutrition analyses of each food product in the sample.
Wiki of Science - Nutritional balance of potato chips (further knowledge): Two Wiki of Science pages provide further introductory and inferential information about the nutritional balance of potato chips.