Nutritional balance of corn chips (inferential statistics) (2e) - 2012

[PEREZGONZALEZ Jose D (2012). Nutritional balance of corn chips (inferential statistics) (2e)6. Knowledge (ISSN 2324-1624), 2013, pages 64-68.] [DOI] [Printer friendly]

BNI of corn chips (inferences)

Perezgonzalez assessed the nutritional balance of corn chips7 in 20123, as part of a research on the nutritional composition of snacks in New Zealand. This article provides inferential information both about the sample of products under research (foodBNI) as well as about a hypothetical diet based on those products (dietBNI).

foodBNI

The population of corn chips appears as extremely unbalanced8 (illustration 1). Indeed, it can be inferred, with a 95% degree of confidence, that the median nutritional balance is located somewhere between BNI 76.67 and BNI 88.63, and the mean sensibly lower, somewhere between BNI 53.17 and BNI 63.07.

Illustration 1: Food's nutritional balance distribution
Non-parametric BNI WHO US/CAN AUS/NZ UK
Median CI95 lower 76.67 64.22 77.46 65.68 64.32
Median CI95 upper 88.63 77.00 87.84 75.54 76.90
SPR lower 10.97 12.13 8.88 8.64 12.80
SPR upper 22.93 24.92 19.27 18.50 25.38
Parametric BNI WHO US/CAN AUS/NZ UK
Mean CI95 lower 53.17 51.92 41.79 42.58 38.52
Mean CI95 upper 63.07 62.50 50.39 50.73 48.93
SD CI95 lower 11.45 12.24 9.94 9.43 12.05
SD CI95 upper 18.25 19.50 15.84 15.03 19.19
(95% confidence interval's lower and upper bounds)

Similar nutritional profiles appear when using other international recommended dietary intakes (RDIs), as well. Indeed, the correlation between indexes is very high (illustration 2). These correlations would occur by chance less than one in 1000, thus it can be inferred that they truly reflect an underlying relationship between international indexes.

Illustration 2: Correlations between international RDIs
r / rho BNI WHO US/CAN AUS/NZ UK
BNI CI95 lower .984 .950 .950 .934
BNI CI95 upper 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000
WHO CI95 lower .984 .954 .950 .934
WHO CI95 upper 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000
US/CAN CI95 lower .950 .962 .984 .947
US/CAN CI95 upper 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000
AUS/NZ CI95 lower .962 .966 .977 .958
AUS/NZ CI95 upper 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000
UK CI95 lower .887 .909 .894 .906
UK CI95 upper 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000
(95% confidence interval's lower and upper bounds)

dietBNI

As part of a hypothetical diet in which all products contributed the same weight of chips, the resulting nutritional composition would improve somehow although it would still be extremely unbalanced, with 95% confidence of it ranging somewhere between BNI 45.10 and BNI 53.85 (when fiber is estimated). However, differences in international RDIs become more apparent at this level, as this diet would "benefit" more under certain international RDIs than under others. For example, it would range sensibly lower under US', Canada's, Australia's and New Zealand's RDIs, and even more so under UK's RDIs, than under WHO's RDIs.

Illustration 3: Diet's nutritional balance
CI95 Protein Carbs Sugar Fat Sat.fat Fiber Sodium
lower 6.5 60.0** 1.9 24.8 7.5 3.7* 0.524
upper 8.0 57.8** 3.1 25.6 9.9 3.7* 0.657
CI95 International RDIs BNI WHO US/CAN AUS/NZ UK
lower (diet, fiber unest.) 54.44 53.84 42.85 42.98 40.71
upper (diet, fiber unest.) 57.18 55.38 43.33 43.72 36.90
lower (diet, fiber est.*) 45.10 42.64 33.96 34.50 25.16
upper (diet, fiber est.*) 53.85 51.38 40.15 40.69 31.34
(Values per 100g; *fiber content estimated from Doritos Burn2; **carbs upper and lower bounds are reversed9)

In any case, the most visible differences between the lower and upper bounds of this confidence interval are the levels of saturated fat and sodium that these products provide to the diet (illustrations 4 and 5).

Illustration 4: dietBNI CI95 lower bound
55%
50% *
45% * *
40% * *
35% * *
30% * *
25% * *
20% * *
15% * *
10% * * *
5%   * * * *
mid p c f fb
max s sf na
5%   * *
10% * *
15%    * *
20% *
25%    *
ideal % = grey cells; actual % = asterisk (*)
Illustration 5: dietBNI CI95 upper bound
55%
50%
45% * *
40% * *
35% * *
30% * *
25% * *
20% * *
15% * *
10% * * *
5%   * * * *
mid p c f fb
max s sf na
5%   * * *
10% * *
15%    * *
20% * *
25%    *
30% *
35%    *
ideal % = grey cells; actual % = asterisk (*)

Author

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

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 - More information about nutritional balance
Two Wiki of Science indexes provide easy access to information about foods and BNI-related topics.
Wiki of Science - Nutritional balance of corn chips (further knowledge)
Two Wiki of Science pages provide further introductory and descriptive information about the nutritional balance of corn chips.

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