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    • Biomarkers of Micronutrient Status: Proceedings of EURRECA workshop Published
    As a result of a workshop held in June 2008 in Sveti Stefan, Montenegro, EURRECA partners have recently published a series of systematic reviews in a supplement of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Vol. 89, Suppl. 6, Jun 2009).
      
    The reviews offer a thorough and unbiased analysis of micronutrient biomarkers used in human intervention studies, assessing how they reflect changes in status in response to supplementation and/or depletion, and addressing differences in measurement techniques.
     
    The reviews evaluated biomarkers of status for selenium (1), n-3 fatty acids (2), copper (3), riboflavin (4), vitamin B12 (5), zinc (7), iodine (8) and vitamin D (9). The originality of this series lies in the unique, common methodology developed at the University of East Anglia (6).
     
    The results of these systematic reviews will be integrated with results of a previous workshop on new approaches for measuring micronutrient status (BJN, Vol. 99 Suppl. 3, Jun 2008) in a set of Best Practice Guidelines, a web-based tool currently being developed and expected to be completed by the end of the year.
     
    Understanding the relationship between dietary intake and micronutrient status is essential when making dietary recommendations. The main goal of the EURRECA ‘Biomarkers of Status’ research activity was to assess the reliability of biomarkers that reflect the level of dietary exposure for selected priority micronutrients, at both the individual and population level.
     
    References:
    1. Ashton K, Hooper L, Harvey LJ, Hurst R, Casgrain A, Fairweather-Tait SJ. Methods of assessment of selenium status in humans: a systematic review. Am J Clin Nutr 2009;89:2025S-2039S.
    2. Fekete K, Marosvolgyi T, Jakobik V, Decsi T. Methods of assessment of n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid status in humans: a systematic review. Am J Clin Nutr 2009;89:2070S-2084S.
    3. Harvey LJ, Ashton K, Hooper L, Casgrain A, Fairweather-Tait SJ. Methods of assessment of copper status in humans: a systematic review. Am J Clin Nutr 2009;89:2009S-2024S.
    4. Hoey L, McNulty H, Strain JJ. Studies of biomarker responses to intervention with riboflavin: a systematic review. Am J Clin Nutr 2009;89:1960S-1980S.
    5. Hoey L, Strain JJ, McNulty H. Studies of biomarker responses to intervention with vitamin B-12: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Am J Clin Nutr 2009;89:1981S-1996S.
    6. Hooper L, Ashton K, Harvey LJ, Decsi T, Fairweather-Tait SJ. Assessing potential biomarkers of micronutrient status by using a systematic review methodology: methods. Am J Clin Nutr 2009;89:1953S-1959S.
    7. Lowe NM, Fekete K, Decsi T. Methods of assessment of zinc status in humans: a systematic review. Am J Clin Nutr 2009;89:2040S-2051S.
    8. Ristic-Medic D, Piskackova Z, Hooper L, et al. Methods of assessment of iodine status in humans: a systematic review. Am J Clin Nutr 2009;89:2052S-2069S.
    9. Seamans KM, Cashman KD. Existing and potentially novel functional markers of vitamin D status: a systematic review. Am J Clin Nutr 2009;89:1997S-2008S.
     
    Abstracts from the Supplement can be found online at the AJCN website. www.ajcn.org