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Di Noia, J. (2014). Defining Powerhouse Fruits and Vegetables: A Nutrient Density Approach. Preventing Chronic Disease, 11. The purpose of this study was to provide a new classification scheme for identifying/classifying fruits and vegetables as nutrient dense. This system will be beneficial for establishing dietary restrictions and suggestions. The reason this system is important to establish is because there is a direct correlation between consumption of nutrient dense foods and the prevention of disease. To establish the criteria for what a powerhouse fruit/vegetable is, they identified 17 vitamins/minerals found in fruits and analyzed their abundance in 47 different fruits/vegetables. The study nutrients included: potassium, fiber, protein, calcium, iron, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, zinc, and vitamins A, B6, B12, C, D, E, and K. The study sampled 100 grams of each food sample in the raw form. The reason it was kept uncooked is because through the cooking process some of the nutrients will be damaged, or change form and will not score as highly therefore this variable was negated. To figure out a score of each food, the study established a metric which took the amount of daily values of each nutrient that was present and divided it by the energy in the food which was measured in kilocalories per 100 grams. This was all established because various foods may be very high in one nutrient and low in others, whereas other foods might be high in nutrients, but not energy dense so the consumption must be higher. Based on their metrics and threshold limit (a score of 10%DV/100 Kcal) 41 of the food measured were considered powerhouse foods. Surprising to me some were some of the foods not considered to be a powerhouse food. Blueberries, garlic, and cranberries were three of the six sampled foods not deemed to be powerhouse foods which, based on public promotion of these foods and their “antioxidant” abilities I would have thought differently. The foods scoring the highest on this study included leafy greens like: watercress, Chinese cabbage, Swiss chard, beet greens, spinach and chicory. The entire list is dominated by leafy greens and there is a considerable drop-off when more traditional vegetables and fruits are analyzed including strawberries, lemon, tomato, oranges, and sweet potato. This must have to do with the abundance of chlorophyll and other essential compounds in the leafy material whereas the fruit portion is primarily sugar and water. This data is extremely useful to an individual looking to enhance their diet and interested in choosing the right foods to help their bodies function at 100%. This is useful for many different professions and also the general public. It would be interesting if produce vendors adopted this system of rating various foods based on their nutrient densities and shared it with the general public prior to purchase.