Elena Shekhova

@lumipie.com

3019 Followers 1578 Following

Exploring & visualizing data on nutrition, health, and sustainability: lumipie.com Interests: biology, charts, science communication, coding, fungi, permaculture, foraging Previously: University of Copenhagen, MRC for Medical Mycology, Leibniz:HKI 📍🇩🇰

Dryad's Saddle (Cerioporus squamosus). Several clusters of large, scaly bracket mushrooms found on dead hardwood trees

Raised garden bed mulched with seaweed, under which a cup fungus started growing

Figure 1 from doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2025.1572297: A matrix visualization displaying health effects and carbon footprints for 30 food groups. Groups are arranged in the matrix from top (favorable) to bottom (unfavorable) and from left (low carbon) to right (high carbon). Beef is split vertically in the bottom-right to show its exceptionally high carbon footprint. Cell colors utilize a traffic light scheme to correspond to intensity of environmental and health impacts.

A table from the Old Farmer’s Almanac Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook showing which plant are compatible with each other and which are not

Chart titled “What do my garden plants need?”. A dot-matrix comparison of growing requirements for 20 edible plants, ordered vertically from high to low overall needs. Plants listed: aubergine, Chinese cabbage, cucumber, regular tomato, runner beans, bell pepper, basil, soybean, headed lettuce, borlotti beans, beetroot, dill, cress, onion, radish, rocket, thyme, rosemary, chives, and mint.

Each row shows four colored dot groups representing requirements for sun (yellow), water (gray/blue), nutrients (green), and temperature sensitivity (red). More dots indicate higher needs.

Aubergine appears among the most demanding, with many dots across categories. Mint appears among the least demanding.

Annotations note: “Aubergine = DIVA – Prefers full sun; requires high water and nutrients. Temperature class: tender.” and “Mint = (should be) EASY – Prefers full sun, but requires low water and nutrients. Temperature class: very hardy.”

Data source: The Edible Plant Database, GROW Observatory, a European Citizen Science project. Chart was designed and created by Elena Shekhova. The tool for data analysis is R. The tool for data viz is React.js.

Risk of cardiovascular disease across increasing levels of total fibre intake. RR=risk ratio

From paper "Alternative Protein Sources and Novel Foods: Benefits, Food Applications and Safety Issues": Figure 1. Underutilized legumes: (a) Winged beans (b) Grasspea (c) Lupins (d) Bambara groundnut.

Agar plate with wood ear mushroom tissues. The red/pink pigment diffusing into the agar is likely metabolites produced by Fusarium mold. Bacterial growth is also visible. Petri dish is photographed against a lamp.

Figure 2:
Price Effect Simulations for Meat and PBMA Burgers (Study 2). Note: Consideration and choice probabilities are shown for the meat burger and PBMAs (aggregated) given a PBMA price range between $12.50 and $5, along with 95% credible intervals. Across PBMA price scenarios, the price of the meat burger was kept constant at $10. A PBMA price of $10 thus corresponds to price parity. The gray dashed lines display the population mean (representative of the United States). Education = high: college degree or higher; No Prior PBMAs = yes: self-report to never eat PBMAs.

Figure 1 from the publication: Heatmap showing the weighted average nutrient levels per protein source (plant-based meat or animal meat) against the nutrition claim criteria to assess the contribution of the different products to the daily requirement. Data on levels of micronutrients from fortification were excluded. The different shades of green represent to what extend the nutrient levels meet nutrient claim criteria (appendix 2). For the minerals and vitamins these are related to a percentage of the NRV (for iron, zinc and vitamin D the lowest NRV was chosen). Grey colors represent the nutrient levels which do not meet any claim/limit criteria or are lower than one-third of the claim criteria. Shades of blue are given to nutrients to limit and represent whether the level is low or too high and exceeds the criteria for nutrients to limit or the level is somewhere in between those two values (appendix 2).

Nutritional content of alternative milk called DO NOT CALL ME M_LK, per 100 g

Figure from doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2022.104464: Fig. 1. UHPLC-PDA chromatograms of three selected algae-derived nutritional supplements showing different ratios of cobalamin to pseudo-cobalamin in Chlorella No 41 (a), Spirulina No 54 (b), and Chlorella No 18 (c). It shows how scientists distinguish between pseudo and real B12 (cobalamin).

Figure from PMID: 24803097:Various types of dried green and purple lavers are Vitamin B12 sources: (1) a Japanese green laver, (Suji-aonori, Entromopha prolifera); (2) ordinary purple lavers (Porphyra sp.; nori, which has been formed into a sheet and dried); (3) Taiwan purple laver (Hong-mao-tai, Bangia atropurpurea); and (4) New Zealand purple laver (Karengo, a mixture of Porphyra cinnamomea and Porphyra virididentata).

A cluster of small mushrooms growing on decaying wood in a damp forest, featuring one delicate grayish mushroom with a finely pleated cap standing out in the foreground among paler, dome-shaped fungi. Likely trooping crumble cap

Data visualization comparing national food supplies in high-income countries (based on GDP per capita) with planetary health intake targets. Radial charts for 12 countries (including Ireland, Denmark, Switzerland, Luxembourg, United States, Australia, Norway, Qatar, Kuwait, Emirates, Taiwan, and Saudi Arabia) show that supplies of animal-based foods, especially meat and dairy, consistently exceed recommended levels of intake. Bars below each chart compare grams of plant-based, animal-based, and fats & oils in total daily supply per person. Data is from FAOSTAT (2022)

Figure 1a from the study (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46265-0): Analysis of fecal microbiota by 16 S rRNA gene sequencing from healthy rural and urban Xhosa individuals showing A bacterial community richness or Shannon Effective as indices for α-diversity,

Figure 4 from https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-025-01224-w: The extinction impacts of average daily per capita food consumption in the United States for consumption in 2021, the EAT–Lancet planetary health diet and hypothetical vegetarian and vegan diets. Baseline intake values are taken from FAO data27. The intake of spices, coffee, cocoa, tea and maté remains constant across diets. The EAT–Lancet diet is the ‘Planetary Health Diet’, designed to be consistent with health requirements and planetary boundaries51. The vegetarian and vegan diets are based on ‘Eatwell’ plates, with constituent commodities consumed in the same ratios that they currently are within each group53,54,55,56. Each reference diet is scaled to have the same number of calories as the baseline, which in theory accounts for food waste and overconsumption, probably overestimating their impacts.

Fig 5:a Schematic of the two-sample MR and colocalization analyses. Genetic instruments were selected for 657 metabolites and 133 metabolite ratios from a published GWAS. Summary statistics for overall dementia, AD, vascular dementia and cognitive performance were also obtained from published GWASs (Methods). Two-sample MR was performed to identify putative causal relationships between metabolites or ratios and cognitive outcomes, followed by colocalization analysis for the causal associations with an FDR < 0.05. b, Identification of numerous putative causal interrelationships of various metabolites, metabolite ratios and cognitive outcome using genetic instruments. The chord diagram displays causal relationships with an FDR < 0.05 from MR analyses using Wald ratio, inverse variance-weighted or MR Egger methods, where each arc represents an identified link between a metabolite or ratio and a cognitive outcome. Arcs and nodes are color coded by the HMDB superclasses. c, Colocalization analyses strengthening evidence of causality, suggesting that the identified putative causal relationships between metabolites or ratios and cognitive outcomes have potential shared causal variants and biology. Putative causal relationships, represented by the odds ratios (ORs) or β coefficients with 95% CIs, are shown for associations with FDR < 0.05 and colocalization signals. Bayesian colocalization analysis was performed within the ±500-kb region around a genetic instrument (Methods). If multiple instruments were used, a causal association was reported if the metabolite or ratio and cognitive outcomes colocalized at least one genetic locus. Colocalization signals were reported for a locus if the conditional probability of colocalization, PP.H4/(PP.H3 + PP.H4), was >70%, where PP.H3 is posterior probability that the two traits have independent causal variants and PP.H4 is the posterior probability that the two traits share a single causal variant.

Figure 3b from the publication "Interplay of genetic predisposition, plasma metabolome and Mediterranean diet in dementia risk and cognitive function": The protective association between adherence to the MedDiet and risk of dementia most pronounced among APOE4 homozygotes. Stratified HR and 95% CIs for dementia risk per a 1-unit increment in the MedDiet index score, categorized by the APOE4 genotype, were estimated from Cox PH models, with stratified P values annotated (unadjusted for multiple comparisons in the hypothesis-driven analysis). The analyses were conducted among NHS participants with genetic, dietary and dementia outcome data (n = 16,497).

Forest plot entitled "Associations between subgroups of ultra-processed food consumption and risk of cancer-cardiometabolic multimorbidity." From DOI: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2023.100771

Canvas poster titled Dogs of All Nations Map

Meta-analysis of Change in Absolute Muscle Mass in Response to Plant vs Animal Protein Intervention, Overall and in Younger (<60 y) and Older (≥60 y) Adults. Forest plot from the publication "Effect of Plant Versus Animal Protein on Muscle Mass, Strength, Physical Performance, and Sarcopenia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials"

Key figure. Overview of non-short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) microbial metabolites altered upon dietary fiber supplementation. As a result of dietary fiber supplementation, microbially produced metabolites such as neurotransmitters , secondary bile acids (2°BAs) , aromatic amino acids , and B vitamins may be altered, with diverse impacts on host health. The panels depict simplified representations of their interactions with various host cells in the colon, liver, and central nervous system.

Table 1 from the publication with a title Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. It describes a healthy reference diet with possible ranges for an intake of 2500 kcal/day https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30660336/

Interactive circular bar chart titled Planetary Health Diet, showing the recommended daily intake of various food groups in grams and calories for a 2,500 kcal/day reference diet. Each bar represents a food group (e.g., vegetables, dairy, cereals, fruits, legumes, added fats, etc.), with the height corresponding to quantity. Green segments indicate plant-based foods, while red and yellow indicate animal-based foods and added fats. Users can toggle between grams and calories and hover over segments for more details. Based on Table 1 from the EAT-Lancet Commission’s report Food in the Anthropocene.

Title page of the publication "The effects of nudging and pricing strategies on the availability and purchases of ultra-processed foods: A secondary analysis of the Supreme Nudge trial"

The figure from the publication entitled "Are Plant-Based Diets Detrimental to Muscular Strength? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials". Random effects model meta-analysis for changes in muscular strength comparing plant-based diet interventions and omnivorous diets. g, Hedges’g; CI, confidence interval; I2, inconsistency index

Scatter plot titled "Fiber and Protein Content in Processed Foods, per 100 calories (100 grams)." The x-axis shows fiber content in grams per 100 calories (with an option to switch to per 100 grams), ranging from 0 to 25. Two toggle buttons at the top allow switching between viewing fiber and protein content. The current view is set to "Fiber." Each dot represents a processed food item, with dot size indicating sugar content and color intensity representing salt content (ranging from 0 to 19 grams). Most foods cluster near 0–5 grams of fiber, with a few outliers like canned asparagus, artichoke hearts, and bamboo shoots reaching 15–20+ grams. Labeled foods include scone, muffin, pizza, tomato puree, and yeast spread. Users are instructed to hover over dots for more info (desktop only). The table and a search function is added too and recommended for exploration on mobile (not shown on the current screen shot).

A figure from PMID: 36588114 with the following description: Post-reproductive lifespan across species. The human female is one of a few selected species of mammals with a significant post-reproductive lifespan. The significance of menopause is extensively being debated on whether it is a vestigial evolutionary inheritance or has crucial implication in conferring evolutionary survival of the fittest to our early days’ ancestors as been reproduced from Ellis et al.

A screenshot from the paper stating:
Results
Higher consumption of UPFs was associated with increased weight gain in meta-analysis (RR = 1.14). The corresponding E value = 1.55, indicating that unaccounted for confounding variables with small-to-moderate sized associations with UPF consumption and weight gain (e.g., depressive symptoms, trait overeating tendencies, access to healthy and nutritious food) could individually or collectively hypothetically account for observed associations between UPF consumption and weight gain.

Conclusions
Unaccounted for confounding could plausibly explain the prospective association between UPF consumption and weight gain in adults. High quality observational research controlling for potential confounders and evidence from study types devoid of confounding are now needed.

Fig. 1. Schematic representation of the experimental procedures. As the experimental manipulation, two interactive stories were used in both studies, one about how two protagonists of similar age as the participants (aged between 4 and 6 years old) saved their hometown from being drained of color with the help of magic fruits or vegetables, while the second control story consisted of a similar plot that did not mention food.

Title page of the paper "Impact of Vegan Diets on Resistance Exercise-Mediated Myofibrillar Protein Synthesis in Healthy Young Males and Females: A Randomized Controlled Trial" DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000003725

Fig. 1 from the paper: a Change in weight (kg) at three timepoints: baseline, 6, and 24 months, where open circles with the dashed line represent the WL+VEST group and closed circles with the solid line represent the WL only group. b Change in resting metabolic rate (kcal/d) at three timepoints: baseline, 6, and 24 months, where open circles with the dashed line represent the WL+VEST group and closed circles with the solid line represent the WL only group.

Title page of the article "Neither fifty percent slow-wave sleep suppression nor fifty percent rapid eye movement sleep suppression does impair memory consolidation". Can be found at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1389945724004520?via%3Dihub

Graph showing an example where the total nutrient content in food decreases over time, but the bioavailable amount increases as food matrix effects are reduced.

A front page of the paper with the title Frog and toad larvae become vegetarian when it is hot. Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/23328940.2017.1288687?needAccess=true

A streamgraph visualizing global trends in daily food consumption (1990–2018) across seven food groups: grains, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, legumes, eggs, meat, seafood, and dairy. Flowing, layered bands represent changes in average daily intake (grams per day).The interactive version of the graph is available at https://www.lumipie.com/data-vis/streamgraph/, with tooltips revealing exact values for each food group at key years. Created with D3.js by Elena Shekhova

Stripe chart showing the proportion of plant-based foods in the average diet of each country, sorted by GDP (from the lowest to the highest). Each stripe represents one country. The chart reveals a trend: countries with higher GDP tend to have lower proportions of plant-based foods in their diets. Plant-based foods include fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, and grains. Based on 2018 data from the Global Dietary Database. Chart by Elena Shekhova.

Video showing an interactive chart of average daily fiber intake across countries.

Chart showing the distribution of average daily fiber consumption across various countries. Many countries fall below the recommended intake of 25 grams of fiber per person per day. The interactive version allows users to explore the data by continent. Chart created by Elena Shekhova using 2018 data from the Global Dietary Database.

Boxplot showing processed meat intake across different income groups. The chart displays four boxplots representing High-income, Upper-middle-income, Lower-middle-income, and Low-income countries. The y-axis shows processed meat intake in grams per day. The boxplots reveal that high-income countries generally have higher meat consumption. Outliers are labeled with country names. The chart is created by Elena Shekhova. Data source is Global Dietary Database and World Bank.

A scatter plot showing the relationship between GDP and macronutrient consumption, with three trend lines fitted using linear regression. The graph indicates that as GDP increases, protein and fat consumption rise, while carbohydrate intake declines. A correlation coefficient is displayed on the left. Data is from 2016, fetched from Our World in Data website. The chart is created by Elena Shekhova

A chart showing that lower-income Americans (7%) are about twice as likely as middle-income (4%) and upper-income (3%) Americans to be vegetarians. Data were collected by Gallup in 2023. The chart was created by Elena Shekhova

A photo and a short biography of Dr. Mervyn G. Hardinge from https://adventistbookcenter.com/authors/dr-mervyn-g-hardinge

Experimental Physiology, Volume: 109, Issue: 10, Pages: 1650-1662, First published: 06 August 2024, DOI: (10.1113/EP091937)
Schematic representation of exercise training modalities following a period of muscle disuse to recover skeletal muscle mass, strength and function (e.g., gait speed) in older individuals (Bamman et al., 1998; Schroeder et al., 2019; Villareal et al., 2017; Willis et al., 2012). Created with BioRender.com.

A high protein meal does not alter autophagic flux in the blood of fasted, healthy individuals.
(A) Schematic of study design. Fasted and post-prandial plasma (B) glucose (paired t-test, n=41-42), (C) insulin (Wilcoxon test, n=41-42) and (D) autophagic flux (Wilcoxon test, n=35). (E) Heatmap showing p-values of Spearman’s correlations between blood measurements and baseline characteristics. (F) Two-way ANOVA of autophagic flux with sex and meal status as factors (n=17-18).

An image displaying a day eating more than 25 grams of fibre per day from www.eufic.org/. It includes whole wheat bread, banana, peanut butter, avocado, veggies, chickpeas, quinoa, orange, nuts, tomato soup, hummus

Figure from a publication "Diet changes due to urbanization in South Africa are linked to microbiome and metabolome signatures of Westernization and colorectal cancer". Caption: Analysis of fecal microbiota by 16 S rRNA gene sequencing from healthy rural and urban Xhosa individuals showing bacterial community richness or Shannon Effective as indices for α-diversity.

The figure shows that microbiota of individuals from rural communities with high fiber intake displays more richness and diversity.

The graphic shows that there are more cases of colorectal cancer in a group of people who do not eat enough fiber daily. In particular, 6 cancer cases per 1,000 people are linked to a lack of fiber in the diet. The graph also shows that most people do not develop colorectal cancer in their lifetime, regardless of their fiber intake. See this graph at https://www.lumipie.com/blog/fiber-diet-post/

Title page of the publication "Carbohydrate quality and human health: a series of systematic reviews and meta-analyses". PMID: 30638909

Figure 1 from the publication "Epidemiology of cancer of the colon and rectum" from 1971. It shows age-standardized rates for colorectal cancer. Less economically developed places tended to have less cancer cases

The cover of the book entitled Fiber Man: The Life Story of Dr Denis Burkitt by Brian Kellock published in 1985

A ggplot graph showing scientific interest in different diets. The number of published studies (1995–2023) was compared for gluten-free, intermittent fasting, ketogenic, and vegetarian diets. Ketogenic is studied the most.

Image from the preprint "Overnutrition is a risk factor for iron deficiency in children and young people: a systematic review and meta-analysis of micronutrient deficiencies and the double burden of malnutrition". It shows the forest plot of reported associations between overnutrition and odds of iron deficiency. REML: Random effects restricted maximum likelihood; CI: confidence interval. The odds are higher for obese and overweight

A screenshot of the paragraph from the paper describing lower incidence of some health conditions at high altitude

Title page of the paper "Hypoxia as a medicine"

Figure 1: Fructose metabolism results in intracellular ATP depletion and triggers a survival response. (A) The metabolism of fructose by fructokinase (FK) results in rapid ATP consumption with a fall in ATP and intracellular phosphate (Pi) in the cell. The low intracellular phosphate activates the enzyme AMP deaminase-2 (AMPD2) which removes the AMP substrate to make inosine monophosphate (IMP) and eventually uric acid. The rise in intracellular uric acid results in the translocation of the NADPH oxidase to the mitochondria resulting in oxidative stress that suppresses oxidative phosphorylation. This is also associated with an increase in lipogenesis and a block in fatty acid oxidation. (B) As ATP levels fall, the survival response is stimulated as noted by hunger, foraging, excessive food intake, reduced resting energy metabolism, fat storage, insulin resistance, systemic inflammation and hypertension.
https://doi.org/10.1093/ckj/sfad058