Welcome to BFI-Hub

A free online database that provides easy access to information on known Biomarkers of Food Intake (BFI) and their validation assessments.

Illustrations from OpenClipart-Vectors & Królestwo_Nauki @Pixabay

BFI-Hub includes:

1. General information about:

Biomarker validity: Information on BFIs' validity and scoring.
Biomarker identity: Compound identifiers (InChI code, IUPAC name, CAS number, sum formula) and identifiers from the databases PubChem ID and PhytoHub ID.
Associated food: Common name, scientific name, and PhytoHub ID.

2. Detailed information on biomarker validity, organized into sections based on five criteria:

Specificity

Ability to accurately reflect the consumption of a particular food or food group, without being influenced by other dietary sources or non-dietary factors.

  • Potential sources from which the BFI or its precursor originate.
  • Comparison of BFI contents in the food of interest to that in other foods.

Variability

The range of BFI concentrations in biological samples, influenced by pre-consumption factors and factors that vary within and between individuals.

  • Variability factors influencing the BFI content in the food source.
  • Variability factors (intra- and inter-individual) affecting BFI concentration in biological samples.

Dose-response

Ability to describe the continuous increase of BFI concentration with increasing food intake.

  • Basic information on the study (study type, number of doses, intake assessment).
  • Statistical values (e.g. Pearson or Spearman correlation analyses, linear regression, p-trend test, or standardized mean difference).

Robustness

Ability to consistently perform well under various conditions without significant deterioration in quality or performance.

  • Basic information on the study (study type, number of participants, cohort characteristics).
  • Description of the associated food.

Analytical Characterization

Refers to the method used to measure the BFI in biological samples and the specific analytical characteristics of the BFI itself.

  • Characteristics of the applied method (instrumentation, sample preparation, validation status, MSI level).

There is an additional section on Metabolism that covers the metabolism of BFIs and the link between ingested food and the presence of BFIs in biological samples.

3. Overview of biomarker validity established through a scoring system:

To provide a simplified overview of BFI validity, a bipartite scoring system was developed, incorporating both data availability and BFI quality.

Data availability (DA) score

  • Considers whether the underlying data is adequate to assess the BFI quality
  • Scores from A (highest availability) to D (lowest availability)

BFI quality score

  • Reflects biomarker’s ability to reliably estimate food consumption
  • Scores from I (highest quality) to IV (lowest quality)

Integrating the scoring systems into the inventory makes it easy for users to find the best BFI of their interest, while also providing clear information about the score’s trustworthiness and highlighting potential gaps in the data.

The scoring system was developed through a consensus approach by a multidisciplinary consortium within the JPI FoodPhyt project, bringing together experts in nutrition, food science, and epidemiology. The details on scoring systems are explained in (#link to your paper).

Current BFI-Hub Version and Contribution Opportunities

BFI-Hub was launched at the beginning of 2025 and has been developed through a collaboration between the consortia of the FoodPhyt and PlantIntake projects, both funded under the umbrella of the JPI HDHL.

In the current version, 30 frequently consumed plant foods are included, for which >500 putative and candidate BFIs were identified. For a subset of these foods (vegetables), a comprehensive validation data set is compiled together with the score for each BFI of the selected foods.

This database is intended to serve as a repository for BFIs, therefore we want to encourage other researchers to contribute by submitting newly discovered BFIs that pass the fail-or-pass criteria or new BFI validation data. For contribution , please follow the instructions provided in the Contribution and Feedback tab.

Biomarker validity




















Biomarker identity



Associated food



About Us


Development of the FoodPhyt Scoring System
  • Christoph Hassenberg; Carina Mack; Sabine Kulling (Max Rubner-Institut, Dept. of Safety and Quality of Fruit and Vegetables)
  • Ana Rodriguez-Mateos (King’s college London, Department of Nutritional Sciences, School of Life Course Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine)
  • Claudine Manach; Pierre Micheau (INRAE, National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, Dept. of Human Nutrition)
  • David Wishart (University of Alberta, Departments of Computing Science and Biological Sciences)
  • Francisco Tomás-Barberán (Spanish National Research Council, Dept. of Quality, Safety and Bioactivity of Plant Foods)
  • Pedro Mena; Claudia Favari; Costanza Michelini (University of Parma, Department of Food and Drug, Human Nutrition Unit)
  • Ramon Estruch (IDIBAPS, Hospital Clínic, University of Barcelona, Cardiovascular risk, nutrition and aging research group)
  • Rikard Landberg; Stefania Noerman; Mia Stråvik; Marina Armeni (Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Life Sciences, Food and Nutrition Science)
  • Rosa Lamuela-Raventós (University of Barcelona, Dept. of Nutrition, Food Science and Gastronomy)
Data Collection and Curation
  • Ana María Ruiz León; Rosa Casas (University of Barcelona, Dept. of Nutrition, Food Science and Gastronomy)
  • Christoph Hassenberg (Max Rubner-Institut, Dept. of Safety and Quality of Fruit and Vegetables)
  • Claudia Favari; Costanza Michelini; Letizia Bresciani (University of Parma, Department of Food and Drug, Human Nutrition Unit)
  • Eliane Fialho-De-Oliveira; Mariem Achour (INRAE, National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, Dept. of Human Nutrition)
  • Otto Savolainen Chalmers University of Technology, Dept. of Biology and Biological Engineering, Food and Nutrition Science)
  • Yong Li; Zicheng Zhang (King’s college London, Department of Nutritional Sciences, School of Life Course Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine)
Development of the Database and Web Interface
  • Sabine Kulling; Carina Mack; Christoph Hassenberg (Max Rubner-Institut, Dept. of Safety and Quality of Fruit and Vegetables)
  • Gabi Kastenmüller; Werner Römisch-Margl; Lara Vehovec; Sylvie Baier (Helmholtz Munich, Computational Health Center)

Feedback

BFI-Hub is designed to serve as a repository for BFI candidates. Therefore, we encourage your contributions by:

  1. Sharing information about newly discovered BFI candidates.
  2. Providing additional data relevant to BFI validation.

To make the process easier, we provide a template to assist you in preparing the data.

We kindly ask that contributions be submitted using the template above to the following email address: feedback@plantintake.eu.

If you have any feedback, feel free to contact us at the same email address.

Your insights and data are greatly appreciated!