4. Discussion
In the present study, we estimated the intake of selected bioactive compounds in fennel. The intake estimates were based on the consumption of plant food supplements (PFS) containing fennel among 401 Finnish PFS consumers from the PlantLIBRA project’s survey on PFS usage. The concentration information on bioactive compounds in fennel was acquired from the ePlantLIBRA database. Because of the large variation in the concentrations of the bioactive compounds between the different analyses, we estimated the intake using three possible scenarios for each bioactive compound: the first using the analysis result with the lowest or minimum concentration; the second using the average of all suitable analysis results; and the third using the analysis result with the highest or maximum concentration.
The present study population was a quota-based convenience sample recruited from four cities, and the results are not representative of the Finnish population. In the pre-screening phase, regular PFS consumers were selected to participate in the survey, and those who tended to consume PFS on an irregular basis were excluded. Therefore, the intake figures were overestimates of the intake among all consumers of PFS.