Table 2.
Potential Indicators for Assessing the Carbohydrate Food Quality.
| Food Chemistry and Composition |
Food and Meal Consumption Context |
Physiological Responses |
Diet Quality and Health Outcomes | Sustainability Impacts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Macronutrient content (types and ratios) |
Interactions with other foods and ingredients in a meal or dietary pattern | Glucoregulation (glycemic index/load, insulin response, etc.) | Nutrient adequacy | Public health effects |
| Food matrix effects | Consumer characteristics (age, health status, other demographic considerations) | Blood lipids (postprandial lipemia, fasting triglycerides, cholesterol, etc.) | Alignment with Healthy Eating Index (HEI) | Environmental impacts |
| Carbohydrate characteristics (fiber, starch, sugar—types, amounts, and ratios) | Lifestyle factors (level of physical activity, stress, sleep, etc.) | Inflammatory and immune markers | Food group variety or diversity | Socio-Cultural impacts |
| Micronutrients (especially of public health concern) | Consumption patterns (frequency of intake, speed of ingestion, etc.) | Multi-omics (genomics, proteomics, metabolomics) | Chronic disease risk or incidence | Economic impacts |
| Bioactive food components (phytonutrients, prebiotics, probiotics) | Food form, processing, and preparation | Gut microbiome | Mortality statistics |
(This is table was adapted and expanded from Kanter 2019 [8]) (Permission has been obtained).