Scientists have identified a range of proteins that can be used as reliable indicators of a person’s micronutrient levels, opening up new possibilities for the study of malnutrition. Keith West Jr., Director of the Centre for Human Nutrition at Johns Hopkins University, and his team have released a study showing that malnutrition can be more comprehensively assessed using quantitative proteomics, an approach that measures protein concentrations in blood samples. Scientists previously relied on chemical tests to measure nutrient levels often a multi-step and time consuming process. This new method is more comprehensive and will help to deepen our understanding of malnutrition worldwide.   This new  technique has opened the field to the development of portable nutrient-measuring devices capable of bring testing to areas where accredited labs are sparse.

The study was originally presented at the Nutrition Innovation Lab’s meeting in Kathmandu, Nepal in August, and was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The original SciDev.Net article on the study can be found here, and the full paper from the Journal of Nutrition can be accessed here.