# Nutritionally recommended food for semi- to strict vegetarian diets based on large-scale nutrient composition data

**Authors:** Seunghyeon Kim, Michael F. Fenech, Pan-Jun Kim  
**arXiv:** [1803.04915](https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.04915)  
**Date:** 2018-03-12  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/paper/1803.04915v2/

## Key points

- Designing a healthy vegetarian diet is challenging due to limited food options.
- Quantitative, data-driven approaches can help address this challenge.
- Nutritional fitness is one such approach that quantifies nutrient balance in foods.
- This study identifies nutritionally recommendable foods for semi- to strict vegetarian diets using nutritional fitness.
- Commonly recommendable foods across different diets are identified, as well as specific favorable foods for each diet.
- Plant-based diets may lead to deficiencies in essential micronutrients like selenium and suggest nutritionally-desirable dietary patterns.
- The authors extend their analysis to two hypothetical scenarios of highly personalized, plant-based methionine-restricted diets.
- Their nutrient-profiling approach provides a useful guide for designing different types of personalized vegetarian diets.

## Summary

The challenge of designing a healthy vegetarian diet lies in the limited food repertoire available to vegetarians. However, this challenge can be addressed by using quantitative, data-driven approaches that utilize massive nutritional information collected for various foods. One such approach is the concept of nutritional fitness, which helps quantify nutrient balance within each food with regard to satisfying daily nutritional requirements. Nutritional fitness prioritizes recommended foods based on their occurrence in nutritionally adequate food combinations. In this study, the authors systematically identify nutritionally recommendable foods for semi- to strict vegetarian diets through the computation of nutritional fitness. The analysis reveals commonly recommendable foods across different diets as well as favorable foods specific to each diet. For instance, immature lima beans are identified as an amino acid and choline source for a vegan diet while mushrooms serve as a vitamin D source for ovo-lacto vegetarian and vegan diets. The study also highlights that plant-based diets may lead to deficiencies in essential micronutrients like selenium and suggests nutritionally-desirable dietary patterns. The authors extend their analysis to two hypothetical scenarios of highly personalized, plant-based methionine-restricted diets. Their nutrient-profiling approach provides a useful guide for designing different types of personalized vegetarian diets. Overall, this study offers valuable insights into how data-driven approaches can help address the challenges associated with designing healthy vegetarian diets and highlights specific foods that can contribute towards meeting daily nutritional requirements. It demonstrates how quantitative methods can be used to identify optimal food choices for various types of vegetarian diets and suggests ways in which deficiencies in essential nutrients can be addressed through dietary modifications.