USDA FOOD AND NUTRIENT DATABASE FOR DIETARY STUDIES - RELEASED ON THE WEB

Authors: Montville, Janice; Ahuja, Jaspreet; Ingwersen, Linda; Haggerty, Etta Susanne; Enns, Cecilia; Perloff, Betty

Submitted to: Journal of Food Composition and Analysis
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/4/2006
Publication Date: 8/1/2006
Citation: Bodner-Montville, J., Ahuja, J.K.C., Ingwersen, L.A., Haggerty, E.S., Enns, C.W., Perloff, B.P. 2006. USDA food and nutrient database for dietary studies - Released on the Web. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. 19:S100-S107.

Interpretive Summary: Dietary studies provide valuable data used for public policy decisions as well as for nutrition and health related research. Types of dietary studies range from the large-scale Government food consumption survey What We Eat in America, the dietary intake interview component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), to smaller-scale dietary intake studies conducted in research laboratories, at universities and in hospitals. Processing dietary intake data into forms suitable for data analysis involves extensive expertise and information not always readily available. The Food Surveys Research Group, USDA-ARS, has over 40 years experience in the processing of food intake data from national surveys. An extensive database of food information (descriptions, nutrients, and food portion weights) is maintained and regularly updated to reflect the current state of the U.S. food market and to support processing of the continuous survey What We Eat in America/NHANES. The USDA Survey Nutrient Database and other technical files used to code foods and calculate nutrient values for national food consumption surveys were updated, redesigned, and renamed the USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS). The FNDDS can now be downloaded from www.barc.usda.gov/bhnrc/foodsurvey in two common formats, Microsoft Access® and ASCII. The database contains information for several thousand foods, including many brand name products. Values for energy and 60 nutrients are included for each food, as well as weights for common food portions (over 30,000 weights in total). Extensive documentation accompanies the database. The website provides a list of frequently asked questions, a bibliography of relevant research, and links to other sites with applications using the database. The database may be used in conjunction with research utilizing dietary data from What We Eat in America/NHANES, or it may be used in other dietary studies. The availability and accessibility of the FNDDS is beneficial to public policy administrators, as well as scientists conducting research that involves collecting food intake data.

Technical Abstract: The USDA Survey Nutrient Database and other technical files used to code foods and calculate nutrient values for national food consumption surveys were updated, redesigned, and renamed the USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS). This new database is now available over the internet from the Food Surveys Research Group. Code numbers, food descriptions and food portion weights were added to accommodate the 2001-02 release of What We Eat in America, the dietary component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Food weights and portions were updated to reflect current fast food and other individually sized products. Nutrients were added and all nutrient values were updated based on the USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 16-1. The FNDDS can be downloaded from the Internet (http://www.barc.usda.gov/bhnrc/foodsurvey) in both ASCII and Microsoft Access® formats. It contains descriptions for 13,500 foods, complete data for energy and 60 nutrients, and over 30,000 weights for common food portions. The database may be used in conjunction with dietary data from What We Eat in America/NHANES 2001-02, or applied to other dietary studies to provide comparability with national data.