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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BHNRC) » Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center » Food Surveys Research Group » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #286894
Title: USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS), 5.0

Author
item Montville, Janice
item Ahuja, Jaspreet
item Martin, Carrie
item Heendeniya, Kaushalya
item Omolewa-Tomobi, Grace
item Steinfeldt, Lois
item Anand, Jaswinder
item Adler, Meghan
item Lacomb, Randy
item Moshfegh, Alanna

Submitted to: Procedia Food Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/28/2012
Publication Date: 5/29/2013
Citation: Montville, J.B., Ahuja, J.K.C., Martin, C.L., Heendeniya, K.Y., Omolewa Tomobi, G., Steinfeldt, L.C., Anand, J., Adler, M.E., Lacomb, R.P., Moshfegh, A.J. 2013. USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS), 5.0. Procedia Food Science. 2:99-112. Available: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211601X13000175.

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. The USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS) is an extensive database of food information (descriptions, nutrients, and food portion weights) that is maintained and regularly updated to reflect the current state of the U.S. food market. FNDDS is used to code foods and portion sizes and to calculate nutrient values for the continuous national food consumption survey What We Eat In America/NHANES. The FNDDS is a readily available resource for the study of food consumption, which can be downloaded at no charge from http://www.ars.usda.gov/ba/bhnrc/fsrg in three common formats, Microsoft Access®, SAS®, and ASCII. The database contains information for several thousand foods, including many brand name products. Values for energy and 64 nutrients are included for each food, as well as weights for common food portions (over 31,000 weights in total). Extensive documentation accompanies the database. Selected data from FNDDS 5.0 have been used to update the What’s In The Foods You Eat Search Tool also available on the FSRG Web site. 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 Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS) is used to code and analyze dietary intakes for the What We Eat In America, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (WWEIA, NHANES). To create FNDDS 5.0 for WWEIA, NHANES 2009-2010, data for over 7,200 foods were updated to incorporate changes in the marketplace and information reported by survey participants. The updates include nearly 100 foods and extensive changes to food descriptions, portions, weights, and recipes. The USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 24 is the basis for the 65 nutrient values for each FNDDS food. FNDDS 5.0 is available at http://www.ars.usda.gov/ba/bhnrc/fsrg.