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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 #356703
Title: Food Patterns Equivalents Database 2015-2016: Methodology and User Guide

Author
item Bowman, Shanthy
item Clemens, John
item SHIMIZU, MIYUKI - University Of Maryland
item Friday, James
item Moshfegh, Alanna

Submitted to: Worldwide Web Site: Food Surveys Research Group
Publication Type: Research Technical Update
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/20/2018
Publication Date: 9/20/2018
Citation: Bowman, S.A., Clemens, J.C., Shimizu, M., Friday, J.E., Moshfegh, A.J. 2018. Food Patterns Equivalents Database 2015-2016: Methodology and User Guide. Worldwide Web Site: Food Surveys Research Group. Available: https://www.ars.usda.gov/nea/bhnrc/fsrg/fped.

Interpretive Summary: The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) provide recommendations on how much to eat from each of the USDA Food Patterns (FP) components such as Fruit, Vegetables, Grains, Dairy, Protein Foods, and Oils, and place limits on the consumption of Alcoholic Drinks, Added Sugars, and Solid Fats. The 2015-2020 DGA recommend that Americans limit added sugars and saturated fats consumption to less than 10 percent of total calories, each. To evaluate how well Americans adhere to the DGA recommendations, it is necessary to convert the foods reported in the What We Eat in America, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (WWEIA, NHANES) 2015-2016, to appropriate FP components. The Food Patterns Equivalents Database (FPED) 2015-2016 has been developed to serve this purpose. The FPED converts the 8,690 foods and beverages in the Food and Nutrients Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS) 2015-2016 used in the WWEIA, NHANES 2015-2016 to the respective number of cup equivalents of Fruit, Vegetables, and Dairy; ounce equivalents of Grains and Protein Foods; number of alcoholic drinks for Alcoholic Beverages; teaspoon equivalents of Added Sugars; and gram equivalents of Solid Fats and Oils. The FNDDS 2015-2016 foods and beverages are composed of various combinations of about 2,721 unique ingredients. The Food Patterns Equivalents Ingredients Database (FPID) 2015-2016 has been created for these unique ingredients. The Methodology and User Guide describes the FPED developmental process in detail with algorithms and many computational examples. In addition to FPED and FPID, the release includes the 37 FP components reported consumed by each respondent on days 1 and 2 of WWEIA, NHANES 2015-2016, and a SAS codes file for the estimation of mean intakes of FP components on day 1 by demographic group. The FPED and FPID have the potential to link nutrition, agriculture, and food economics and are useful to researchers, nutritionists, nutrition educators, economists, food growers, food producers, and policymakers.

Technical Abstract: The purpose of developing the Food Patterns Equivalents Database (FPED) 2015-2016 is to convert the 8,690 foods in the Food and Nutrients Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS) 2015-2016 used for the What We Eat in America, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (WWEIA, NHANES) 2015-2016 to the 37 USDA Food Patterns (FP) components. The FNDDS 2015-2016 foods are composed of various combinations of about 2,721 unique ingredients, and a Food Patterns Equivalents Ingredients Database (FPID) has been created for these ingredients. The main FP components include: Fruit, Vegetables, Grains, Dairy, Protein Foods, Added Sugars, Oils, Solid Fats, and Alcoholic Drinks. Many of the main FP components are further subdivided, so as to increase the application of FPED and to facilitate detailed data analyses. In FPED, Fruit, Vegetables, and Dairy are expressed in cup equivalents; Grains and Protein Foods in ounce equivalents; Alcoholic Drinks in number of drinks; Added Sugars in teaspoon equivalents; and Oils and Solid Fats in gram equivalents. FNDDS 2015-2016 foods and beverages are disaggregated to ingredients that can be directly assigned to one of the Food Patterns. The FP components are then computed for the ingredients. The amount of each of the 37 FP components present per 100 grams of each FNDDS food are computed by adding the FP components present in its ingredients. The FPED 2015-2016 release includes: (1) the Methodology and User Guide describing the guiding principles and process of FPED development with algorithms and computational examples, and SAS codes in Appendix 7 for the estimation of mean intakes of FP components on day 1 of the survey, by demographic groups; (2) an FPED per 100 grams of each of the FNDDS 2015-2016 foods, in MS Access and in SAS (2 data files); (3) an FPID per 100 grams of the FNDDS unique ingredients, in MS Access and in SAS (2 data files); and (4) the amount of each of the 37 FP components reported consumed by each survey respondent on days 1 and 2 of WWEIA, NHANES 2015-2016 (4 SAS data sets).