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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 #335625
Title: What We Eat In America Food Categories and changes between survey cycles

Author
item Rhodes, Donna
item Adler, Meghan
item Clemens, John
item Moshfegh, Alanna

Submitted to: Journal of Food Composition and Analysis
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/7/2017
Publication Date: 8/8/2017
Citation: Rhodes, D.G., Adler, M.E., Clemens, J.C., Moshfegh, A.J. 2017. What We Eat in America Food Categories and changes between survey cycles. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2017.07.018.

Interpretive Summary: The What We Eat In America (WWEIA) Food Categories, first developed and released on the Food Surveys Research Group (FSRG) Web site in 2013, is a new grouping scheme for use with WWEIA, NHANES. This application groups foods and beverages together that have similar usage and nutrient content with the focus on how they are commonly consumed in the American diet. Each Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies code is assigned to one of 150+ clearly defined and mutually exclusive categories. This paper describes the WWEIA Food Categories, provides examples of how the WWEIA Food Categories are used to analyze food and beverage consumption and highlights changes in the WWEIA Food Categories between survey cycles. The WWEIA Food Categories, important for developing food guidance programs and monitoring food intake, are available on the FSRG Web site www.ars.usda.gov/nea/bhnrc/fsrg and can readily be used by researchers.

Technical Abstract: Detailed analysis of food and beverage consumption of the U.S. population is limited, yet critical for developing food guidance programs and for dietary surveillance. The What We Eat In America (WWEIA) Food Categories, intended for use with data from WWEIA, NHANES and the Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS), provide an application for analyzing food and beverages as consumed in the American diet. A new version is produced with each 2-year release cycle of WWEIA, NHANES and FNDDS. The objective of this project is to display the WWEIA Food Categories and describe how updates to FNDDS effect the WWEIA Food Categories and potential analysis between survey cycles. The WWEIA Food Categories arrange all foods and beverages reported in WWEIA into 150+ unique categories, each with a 4-digit number and description. Each FNDDS food code is linked to a category. Beginning with 2011-2012 and continuing through 2013-2014, updates to FNDDS focus on increasing the variety of food and beverage codes. A new version of the WWEIA Food Categories plus a summary of changes are available on the Food Surveys Research Group www.ars.usda.gov/nea/bhnrc/fsrg and can readily be used by other researchers.