OCEANIAFOODS conference, Wellington, New Zealand, April 2005.

Kia ora tatou! The seventh OCEANIAFOODS Conference was held in 2005 in Wellington, New Zealand. Wellington was covered with fog restricting many flights and limiting the attendance of conference goers at the welcome reception. Held previously in sunny Brisbane, Australia (2002), Noumea, New Caledonia (1998) and Suva, Fiji (1995), the OCEANIAFOODS gathering of 2005 was the largest to date. Established in 1987 the OCEANIAFOODS group aims to address the issues relating to nutrient databases. Attended by dietitians, nutritionists, chemists, microbiologists and researchers in a range of other disciplines, the focus of this year's gathering was innovation in nutrient information.

Situated only two minutes' walk from Wellington Harbour, the conference began with the New Zealand Minister for Health outlining the importance of food databases in the area of food surveys, and food labelling and the potential impact on public health nutrition. The importance of food fortification with folic acid and iodine was stressed, as was the need to include the relevant information in food nutrient databases. The conference was introduced with four key issues: lifestyle foods (including the management of glycaemia with arable food sources), virtual food components (the inclusion of information on physiological effects of foods in databases), nutrigenomics (the influence of nutrients in foods on the human genome) and nutritional epidemiology (the uses of food databases in research on various disease states).

The use of food composition databases in research relating to the Pacific Islands was addressed by Dr Suzanne Murphy of the National Cancer Research Centre, Hawaii. Having access to the USDA database and information from the literature, laboratory analyses and other countries, the Hawaiian database consists of only 28% uniquely Hawaiian food items, with a large proportion for foods such as lau lau and lumpias being created as recipes from other sources. The challenges of developing a dietary supplement database were addressed with Hawaii currently having a database of 3300+ supplements, of which 2100 are multivitamin or multimineral supplements, 335 are single nutrient supplements and 218 are herbal and non-nutrient supplements. Representatives from New Zealand Food Standards then presented data on a study of caffeine in the diets of New Zealand children. Using the Australian caffeine figures, the study found that safe levels of caffeine consumption (3 mg per 1 kg body weight per day) were not exceeded by the children in the study, with primary sources being beverages followed by sugars and sweets.

Country reports from USA, Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and Fiji identified vast differences in the progress of nutrient database development and management between the countries. The USDA nutrient composition database is freely available on the Internet and is managed and updated regularly. In contrast, the Australian database dates primarily from 1995, although it is due to be updated with data on selenium, vitamin B12, vitamin D, trans-fatty acids, caffeine and tocopherol, and with data for individual produce varieties of foods. The New Zealand database currently contains 2600 foods with a commitment to add 54 new foods annually based on user demand, update foods with data collected five years ago, and replace overseas values with New Zealand data. The Pacific Islands have recently seen the release of the second edition of the Pacific Islands Food Composition Tables containing 300 updated food entries including groupings for green leaves, fruit/nuts, seafoods, 'lovo' foods, snacks and drinks. Aiming to educate the local communities, the Pacific Islands are faced with language barriers and have at most one nutritionist per country. A report on Fiji's total diet study compared the weekly intake of food contaminants with reference values. Using 35 foods grouped into 10 categories, this study covered 75-80% of the total intake in Fiji. Assessment for heavy metals and pesticides was reported as linked to an increased incidence of diabetes in the Fijian population.

Approaches to auditing food composition databases was discussed by Associate Professor Heather Greenfield, who identified the need to compare data with international criteria, other national programs and the goals of the database for the country itself. In New Zealand, the database was highly dependent on non-analytical data, although the data are updated triennially. The importance of food composition database training was identified for both Australia and New Zealand.

Dr Joanne Holden from the USDA began the morning session on the second day with a discussion on bioactive components included in the American database. With information updated yearly, databases are currently available for carotenoids, isoflavones, flavanoids, proanthocyanidins, choline, fluoride, trans-fats and omega-3 fats. Each of the databases contain between 128 and 434 foods. A discussion of phytochemical food data for New Zealand followed addressing issues of analysis of these components due to the diversity of their structure and the number available for analysis. It was said that 'we are what we absorb rather than we are what we eat'. Many analytical techniques were addressed identifying the challenges of food composition analysis. Techniques for selenium, iodine and folates were addressed in detail with challenges such as food colourings and iodofores affecting the nutrient analysis.

Clinical applications for food composition databases were examined by representatives of the New Zealand Institute for Crop and Food Research using the concept of glycaemic glucose equivalent. Calculated by dividing the area under the curve of glucose response for a food item with that of a 50 g glucose reference drink, the figure is then adjusted for the serving size of the food. Glycaemic glucose equivalent was proposed by the speakers to be an alternative to the use of glycaemic load as it is measured directly on the food item and is based on the actual amount of food eaten. The second day was concluded with topics relating to advances in food and nutrient databases in the Asia-Pacific. The session began with an analysis of anthocyanin levels in Australian and Fijian fruits and vegetables, for which blueberries in Australia and cherries in Fiji had the highest levels. Lois Engleberger followed with an eye-opening talk about the nutrient-rich foods of Kiribati, Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia. Staple foods breadfruit, pandana and banana of this region have begun to give way to imported rice, leading to Vitamin A deficiency. The bananas of the region, however, have some of the highest levels of [beta]-carotene content. A standard banana contains approximately 21 [micro]g [beta]-carotene while a well-known Karat banana, which is orange in colour, contains up to 3386 [micro]g [beta]-carotene. Similarly, giant swamp taro contains up to 63 mg/100 g zinc, compared with spinach, which contains 0.5 mg/100 g. The day was finished with a topical discussion of the nutrient content of 370 tropical fruit and 100 tropical vegetables in Malaysia.

The final day of the conference again drew on the practical applications involved in food composition database development. From the quality and integrity of analytical laboratory work, the training of laboratory staff and evaluation programs for analysis laboratories to the accuracy and precision of food composition databases, the first session for the day identified further challenges for food composition data development. Representatives from Hort Research then outlined their work with anticancer assays and reactive oxygen species in relation to ageing and cell death. Bill Aalbersberg followed outlining the food contaminant studies in the Pacific region. The mercury content of fish in Fiji correlates with the mercury content of the volcanic regions, with larger fish containing higher levels of mercury. Furthermore, persistent organic pollutants in Fijian breast milk was found to be lower than Australian and New Zealand levels. New Zealand levels were found to be higher than Australian persistent organic pollutant levels relating to the legislator's control of industrialised processes. Lois Engleberger concluded the session with a discussion of education programs in the Kiribati, Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia. Encouraging the population to eat yellow varieties of foods, the School of Population Health and Island Food Community of Pohnpei are promoting these foods using pictorial displays for the people of the community.

The final session for the conference addressed fats and fatty acids in relation to food analysis and nutritional labelling. The conference was closed with a list of issues to address before the next meeting in two to three years time. Overall, the OCEANIAFOODS conference of 2005 displayed the complexity involved in not only the analysis of foods for their nutrient composition, but also the laborious process of updating and managing the databases within which these values for nutrient levels are stored. Challenges of which data to use, and whether each country should create their own or share their databases is yet to be agreed upon. At present the focus should be to maintain the accessibility and quality of the data and encourage its use, not only for those in the research setting, but also for those working in the local communities and in clinical practices.

Yasmine Probst

PhD student

Smart Foods Centre

University of Wollongong