20120817 - Nutritional balance of potato chips (descriptive statistics) - 2012

[Data]

(Note: A revised version of this article exists⁴)
[<Normal page] [PEREZGONZALEZ Jose D (2012). Nutritional balance of potato chips (descriptive statistics). Journal of Knowledge Advancement & Integration (ISSN 1177-4576), 2012, pages 244-246.]

Table of Contents

BNI of potato chips (description)

BNI of potato chips (description)

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

foodBNI

Most potato chip products appeared as highly unbalanced⁶. The distribution of nutritional balance, as shown in illustration 1, clustered between BNI 70 and BNI 100, with the median located at BNI 82.65. There was a perceptible skewness towards higher levels of unbalance (mean=BNI 86.50, zSkew=3.39). Indeed, the 68% of products in the middle of the distribution had a nutritional balance between BNI 79.71 (P₁₆) and BNI 98.37 (P₈₄), so that the median was off-centered towards the 16^th percentile.

This nutritional pattern was identical under WHO's recommended dietary intakes (RDIs), but slightly less unbalanced under US's, Australia's or UK's RDIs. The overall shape of the 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

dietBNI

As part of a hypothetical diet where all products contribute the same weight of chips, the resulting nutritional composition of such diet would still be highly unbalanced (dietBNI 70.12f), although it would "benefit" sensibly under some international RDIs, resulting in a moderately unbalanced diet overall⁶, specially under UK's RDIs (46.16).

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 database³)*

Methods

Research approach

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

Sample

Stratified sample of 63 potato chip products², including generic and proprietary brands, diverse flavors and other relevant categories. Notwithstanding this, the actual products were collected in a convenient manner from three major national supermarket chains. The final sample covered a large proportion of the population of potato chip products available in such supermarkets.

Variables

Variables of interest for this research were the following:

Weight contribution of seven nutrients (protein, carbohydrates, sugars, fats, saturated fat, fiber and sodium) to 100g of the food product.
The balanced nutrition index (BNI) of each food product, as calculated from above variables.
Aggregated information for the BNI of the sample of products (foodBNI).
Aggregated information for the individual nutrients (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). Missing data for fiber was estimated for the aggregated variable dietBNI from USDA's database (2011³).

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

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 (2012). Tasty taytos. The Balanced Nutrition Index (ISSN 1177-8849), 2012, issue 5.

3. USDA (2011). Nutrient data for 19411, Snacks, potato chips, plain, salted. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, 2011, December 7.

+++ Notes +++

4. The second edition standardizes the presentation of illustrations.

5. Thin slices of potatoes fried or baked until crisp, and with added seasoning and flavorings. They may also be known as potato crisps or potato wafers.

6. When interpreting the BNI as 0 = balanced, 1-29 = slightly unbalanced, 30-59 = moderately unbalanced, 60-99 = highly unbalanced, ≥100 = extremely unbalanced.

Want to know more?

BNI™ database: The database offers individual nutrition analyses for food, including the foods referred to in above article.
BNI™ journal (2012, issue 5) - Tasty taytos: This issue of the Balanced Nutrition Index™ journal collates all BNI™ nutrition information about the original sample in a single book.
Wiki of Science - Nutritional balance of foods: This Wiki of Science page collates information about several foods on a single document and provides useful links to the appropriate files.