Strengths and Limitations
Currently, there is limited
knowledge on the effect of age on the behavior of nutritional markers,
in particular biomarkers of food intake. Our study showed that the
age factor should be considered while investigating these candidate
markers, in particular for their validation using more quantitative
measurements, for example, for dose–response studies. The use
of the DHS-VTT for the analysis of volatile compounds is also a strength
of this study as it allowed preservation of the integrity of the samples
while allowing the extraction of a wide range of volatile compounds
compared to other headspace extraction methods.This study also presents some limitations. First,
the small number of participants limited the results of the statistical
analyses. Though a total of 28 participants were recruited, each group
consisted of only 14 participants (14 YA-M and YA-Y, 14 OA-M and OA-Y).
In particular, an effect of the 3 week restriction phase was observed
only in the OA group, though visually we could observe consistent
trends between V1 and V4 in the YA group as well (