Department of Food Science and Technology, Pondicherry University, Puducherry, 605014, India

Metabolomics is a stream of study that deals with small metabolites or a set of tiny molecules. Metabolomics has been widely adapted in toxicology and pharmacology. However, they are yet to be utilized in nutrition and food science. Nutrition metabolomics can be defined as the study of metabolites generated from dietary compounds after host metabolism on the consumption of a certain food item. The quality and quantity of food consumed determine the health of a person. In recent years metabolomics has gained importance for assessing nutrition and dietary intake. This is because it has provided a novel strategy to discover new metabolomic biomarkers that would help to understand the association between genetic makeup and nutrition. There will be associated opportunities and challenges in nutritional metabolomics which can help to determine the fate of personalized diets. The target of this paper is to discuss various forms of study designs, measurement techniques, and statistical approaches for identifying metabolites that are associated with dietary patterns and dietary intakes.