Oral Presentation 49th Nutrition Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2025

Nitr-Navigator: A global open-access platform for investigating health impacts of dietary nitrate and nitrite exposure (129678)

Liezhou Zhong 1 2 , Jonathan Hodgson 2 , Joshua Lewis 2 3 4 , Lauren Blekkenhorst 2 , Nicola Bondonno 2 5 , Marc Sim 2 , Richard Woodman 6 , Catherine Bondonno 2 3
  1. Institute of Agriculture, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
  2. Nutrition & Health Innovation Research Institute, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, WA, Australia
  3. Medical School, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
  4. Centre for Kidney Research, Children's Hospital at Westmead School of Public Health, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Walse, Australia
  5. Danish Cancer Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark
  6. Flinders Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia

Reliable estimation of dietary nitrate and nitrite exposure is essential for understanding their potential health effects, which are increasingly recognised as dependent on food source, while their food content is determined by multiple factors such as preparation method and geographic origin. To address the lack of standardised, comprehensive data, we developed the Nitr-Navigator (nitr-navigator.com), the world’s most extensive, up-to-date and open-access nitrate and nitrite food composition database. It compiles over 150,000 analytical values across more than 800 unique foods and includes detailed metadata on cooking and processing methods, quantification techniques, growing conditions, seasonality, and geographic origin. Using these enriched data, we conducted in-depth analyses to investigate how food preparation, sampling season, and location influence nitrate and nitrite content. For example, cooking-specific retention factors for plant-based foods showed that boiling retained nitrate at a median of 55.00 ± 19.24% (interquartile range [IQR] 39.59–65.56%), while frying increased nitrate content to 279.53 ± 153.60% (IQR 179.53–386.89%), compared to raw equivalents. Geographic variability was observed across both plant and animal foods, with large seasonal effects on vegetable nitrate levels, especially in leafy greens. Longitudinal trends revealed a decline in nitrate content in selected vegetables over the past three decades, which has stabilised since 2010, while nitrate and nitrite levels in animal-based foods remained relatively constant over time. These stratified data enable more accurate, context-specific exposure assessments for epidemiological and clinical studies. To support usability, we also developed NitriXplorer, an integrated data portal that allows users to search, visualise, and filter data by variables such as country of sampling and food processing. NitriXplorer incorporates a language model-powered matching tool to align food items from dietary records with entries in the Nitr-Navigator database. This harmonised and validated pipeline facilitates accurate data extraction by accounting for regional variability and analytical method differences, thereby enhancing reproducibility and cross-study comparability. Since its launch in July 2024, the Nitr-Navigator website has received over 20,000 views from users in more than 60 countries, supported over 10 peer-reviewed publications, and facilitated collaborations with institutions in the US, UK, EU, and China. The database has been cited by the French food safety authority (ANSES) in support of a legislative bill to reduce nitrite use in cured meats, and referenced, alongside oral evidence, in inquiries by the UK House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee. Together, Nitr-Navigator and NitriXplorer represent a globally relevant infrastructure for advancing research, risk assessment, and evidence-based policymaking on nitrate and nitrite exposure.

 

  1. Zhong L, Hodgson JM, Lewis JR, et al. (2025). AJCN, 121(5), 1124-1136.
  2. Hord NG, & Hays FA (2025). AJCN, 121(5), 945-946.
  3. Zhong L, Blekkenhorst LC, Bondonno NP., et al. (2022). Food Chem, 394, 133411.
  4. Zhong L, Liu, AH, Blekkenhorst LC, et al. (2022). Mol Nutr Food Res, 66(1), e2100272