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Topic · Nutrition and Dietetics

Food composition and properties

Food composition and properties is a research topic within Nutrition and Dietetics. Science Explorer counts 51k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the role of dietary fiber, glycemic index, starch, and whole grains in human health. It covers topics such as the health benefits of dietary fiber, glycemic index methodology, physicochemical properties of starch, and the impact of whole grain consumption on metabolic health.

  • Dietary Fiber
  • Glycemic Index
  • Starch
  • Health Benefits
  • Whole Grain
  • Resistant Starch
  • Physicochemical Properties
  • Metabolic Health
  • Cereal Grains
  • Rheological Properties
Research works
51k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
5.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+39%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
41% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Food composition and properties

This ranks research output and citation impact. It says nothing about the quality of diagnosis, treatment or care.

Which countries lead Food composition and properties research?

By volume, China and India publish the most (3.7k and 1.4k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 3.7k works
  2. 2 India 1.4k works
  3. 3 Indonesia 959 works
  4. 4 United States 729 works
  5. 5 Brazil 505 works
  6. 6 Nigeria 500 works
  7. 7 Türkiye 381 works
  8. 8 Mexico 278 works
  9. 9 Italy 264 works
  10. 10 Iran 237 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 41.2%India: 15.9%Indonesia: 10.7%United States: 8.1%6 others listed: 24.1%41%largest
China3,692 · 41.2%India1,422 · 15.9%Indonesia959 · 10.7%United States729 · 8.1%6 others listed2,165 · 24.1%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Food composition and properties research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences publishes the most Food composition and properties research, followed by Nanchang University and Jiangnan University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesChina 230 works
  2. 2 Nanchang UniversityChina 181 works
  3. 3 Jiangnan UniversityChina 147 works
  4. 4 Indian Council of Agricultural ResearchIndia 133 works
  5. 5 Henan University of TechnologyChina 129 works
  6. 6 Northeast Agricultural UniversityChina 93 works
  7. 7 Ministry of Agriculture and Rural AffairsChina 92 works
  8. 8 China Agricultural UniversityChina 82 works
  9. 9 Yangzhou UniversityChina 75 works
  10. 10 Northwest A&F UniversityChina 68 works

Who are the leading researchers in Food composition and properties?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Food composition and properties include Walter Churchill Willett, Salim Yusuf and Luigi Ferrucci.

  1. 1 Walter Churchill Willett United States 411k citations
  2. 2 Salim Yusuf Canada 294k citations
  3. 3 Luigi Ferrucci United States 281k citations
  4. 4 Frank B. Hu United States 281k citations
  5. 5 JoAnn E. Manson United States 263k citations
  6. 6 Amirhossein Sahebkar Iran 258k citations
  7. 7 Carlo La Vecchia Italy 258k citations
  8. 8 Ralph B. D’Agostino United States 255k citations
  9. 9 Jeffrey I. Gordon United States 250k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Food composition and properties?

The most cited paper in Food composition and properties is "Methods for Dietary Fiber, Neutral Detergent Fiber, and Nonstarch Polysaccharides in Relation to Animal Nutrition" (Peter J. Van Soest, James B. Robertson, B.A. Lewis, 1991), with 28,661 citations. Next come "From Dietary Fiber to Host Physiology: Short-Chain Fatty Acids as Key Bacterial Metabolites" (7,123) and "Measurement of cellulase activities" (6,260).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Methods for Dietary Fiber, Neutral Detergent Fiber, and Nonstarch Polysaccharides in Relation to Animal Nutrition Peter J. Van Soest, James B. Robertson, B.A. Lewis · Journal of Dairy Science Open access Oct 1991 28,661
2 From Dietary Fiber to Host Physiology: Short-Chain Fatty Acids as Key Bacterial Metabolites Ara Koh, Filipe De Vadder, Petia Kovatcheva‐Datchary et al. · Cell Open access Jun 2016 7,123
3 Measurement of cellulase activities T. K. Ghose · Pure and Applied Chemistry Open access 1987 6,260
4 INFOGEST static in vitro simulation of gastrointestinal food digestion André Brodkorb et al. · Nature Protocols Open access 18 Mar 2019 5,074
5 Classification and measurement of nutritionally important starch fractions. H N Englyst, S M Kingman, John H. Cummings · PubMed Oct 1992 3,819
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Food composition and properties research done?

The largest centres of Food composition and properties research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Wuxi (China), Zhengzhou (China) and Harbin (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Sangrur, Umuahia and Wuxi.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 459 works
  2. 2 WuxiChina 291 works
  3. 3 ZhengzhouChina 225 works
  4. 4 HarbinChina 160 works
  5. 5 JakartaIndonesia 149 works
  6. 6 GuangzhouChina 144 works
  7. 7 NanjingChina 143 works
  8. 8 WuhanChina 141 works
  9. 9 HangzhouChina 112 works
  10. 10 BangkokThailand 105 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. SangrurIN · 40.9 works63×
  2. UmuahiaNG · 26.2 works27×
  3. WuxiCN · 291.4 works23×
  4. MakurdiNG · 23.1 works22×
  5. LudhianaIN · 76.8 works18×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Food composition and properties than the world average.

See Food composition and properties on the map

Where is the best place to study Food composition and properties?

Among universities, judged by research, Nanchang University, Northeast Agricultural University and Northwest A&F University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 23.62%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Northeast Agricultur…Nanchang UniversityNorthwest A&F Univer…Jiangnan University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Nanchang UniversityChina 85.024.4%20.4×181 +70.0%
2Northeast Agricultural UniversityChina 84.734.9%30.1×93 +195.0%
3Northwest A&F UniversityChina 75.323.3%14.9×68 +89.2%
4Jiangnan UniversityChina 73.217.8%21.1×147 +73.2%
5Jiangsu UniversityChina 71.824.1%5.4×51 +135.2%
6Wageningen University & ResearchNetherlands 69.117.4%11.6×49 +45.9%
7University of Massachusetts AmherstUnited States 66.835.2%4.1×17 +97.9%
8China Agricultural UniversityChina 66.318.4%12.4×82 +103.6%
9Nanjing University of Finance and EconomicsChina 65.625.1%15.6×24 +78.8%
10Henan University of TechnologyChina 65.215.6%53.5×129 +72.5%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Food composition and properties, country by country

Is Food composition and properties research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 39% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Food composition and properties.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Food composition and properties as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.061% in 2024.

still counting0.025%0.050%0.075%Food composition and properties0.062% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Food composition and properties over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Food composition and properties9.9% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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