Does the Nutrivore Score Correct for Bioavailability?
The short answer is no – the Nutrivore Score is not corrected for nutrient bioavailability. You can think of the Nutrivore Score as a simple yet comprehensive representation of the inherent nutrients contained within a food, and acknowledge that a variety of factors will determine whether or not your body absorbs and uses all of those nutrients. Bioavailability varies from individual to individual. Factors influencing bioavailability include health of your gut microbiome, your nutrient status, competitive binding with other nutrients, meal composition, various drugs and supplements, chronic disease, time of day and biorhythms, age and gender. Since it is so highly variable, you can’t account for bioavailability in a nutrient-density score because it has more to do with you, your body, and your choices, than it does with the food itself.
Let’s look at a few examples to explain what I mean.
For example, from a dietary perspective vitamin C can increase iron absorption, fats can increase carotenoid and vitamin K absorption, but zinc and copper compete for absorption as do calcium and magnesium. You wouldn’t be able to account for these situations in a nutrient density score for an individual food because all nutrients present in an entire meal interact and meals vary. In addition, sometimes absorption is influenced by factors independent of food. For example, vitamin D status influences calcium absorption; a functioning gallbladder is necessary for efficient fat and fat-soluble vitamin absorption; and while folic acid is much more readily absorbed in the digestive tract than the active form of vitamin B9, L-methylfolate, those with MTHFR gene variants can’t convert folic acid efficiently even when incorporating it as part of a healthy diet. So, because nutrient absorption, competition, or facilitation goes beyond an individual food and is instead related to all of the foods consumed at a meal as well as other factors such as genetics, it makes no sense to correct for these in a nutrient profiling method.
That being said, overall all of these effects are pretty small and typically would only be something you need to worry about if you eat a very restrictive diet omitting entire food groups making it difficult to meet RDAs (Recommended Dietary Allowances) for essential nutrients. That is, following a Nutrivore approach, where dietary intake is composed of nutrient-dense foods, which are a good source of essential nutrients such as vitamin A, vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B3 (niacin), vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), vitamin B7 (biotin), vitamin B9 (folate), vitamin B12 (cobalamin), selenium, choline, manganese, potassium, polyphenols, amino acids, carbohydrates, and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids such as linoleic acid to name a few, should ensure the impact is minimal.
Bottom line, it doesn’t make sense to try to reflect bioavailability in the Nutrivore Score when the system is so complex and varies from individual to individual.
If you’d like to hear more about why the Nutrivore Score is not corrected for bioavailability, check out my video.
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