Application of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) to Agricultural and Food Science

Abstract

Compound diversity in agricultural and food products is affected by environmental factors during food production. This diversity strongly impacts food quality and human health. Nuclear mag netic resonance (NMR) is a spectroscopic technique which has been used to analyze molecular structure and dynamics. NMR spectra are applicable to metabolomic studies and can be used to identify the characteristics of a given sample, providing structural information on the various compounds contained therein. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses a magnetic field gradient to encode spatial information into an NMR signal. MRI provides information on the morphology, distribution, and mobility of water molecules in a sample. We have been developing NMR-based methods for evaluating and predicting the quality of agricultural and food products. This report focuses on the various applications of NMR in agricultural and food sciences.