RT Journal Article
T1 Untargeted metabolomics approaches challenge the nutri-score FOPNL system in soluble cocoa products
A1 Palma Morales, Marta
A1 Rangel Huerta, Oscar Daniel
A1 Urrialde De Andrés, Rafael
A1 Rodríguez Pérez, Celia
AB Front-of-pack nutrition labels (FOPNL) like the Nutri-Score aim to guide healthier food choices, but their focus on limited nutritional parameters may overlook key health-promoting compounds. This study analyzed 54 commercial soluble cocoa powders from the Spanish market—covering 19 brands and Nutri-Score categories A to D—using untargeted metabolomics (HPLC-ESI-TOF-MS) and univariate and multivariate statistical analysis. PCA and PLS2 analyses showed no clear clustering by Nutri-Score categories, while ANOVA and post-hoc tests revealed limited metabolic differences, highlighting a mismatch between Nutri-Score classification and the actual chemical diversity of soluble cocoa products. Nutri-Score ratings primarily reflect macronutrient balance but fail to account for health-promoting metabolites. In several cases, products richer in bioactive compounds were penalized with lower Nutri-Scores, underscoring a limitation of this system when applied to complex food matrices. These findings highlight the need for more comprehensive labeling approaches that integrate metabolomic insights.
PB Springer Nature
SN 2396-8370
YR 2025
FD 2025-12-03
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/134145
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/134145
LA eng
NO Palma-Morales, M., Rangel-Huerta, O.D., Urrialde, R. et al. Untargeted metabolomics approaches challenge the nutri-score FOPNL system in soluble cocoa products. npj Sci Food 10, 2 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41538-025-00649-8
NO This paper and the results presented constitute part ofMarta Palma Morales’ doctoral thesis, which is performed as part of the Nutrition and Food Science Doctorate Program of the University of Granada. She was supported by a contract to the Junta de Andalucía-Consejería de Universidad, Investigación e Innovación Research Project: P21_00777 (April 2023–January 2024), and a research fellowship from the Government of Spain (FPU22/02472). We would like to ackowledge SpectraMinds for its support in the data analysis. Oscar Daniel Rangel-Huerta is founder of SpectraMinds.
NO Junta de Andalucía
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 7 abr 2026