ARS | Publication request: THE USDA NATIONAL NUTRIENT DATABASE FOR PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANTS (PDAS), REL. 17

Submitted to: Home Page
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: August 27, 2004
Publication Date: August 27, 2004
Citation: Haytowitz, D.B., Cutrufelli, R.L., Lemar, L.E., Thomas, R.G. 2004. The USDA national nutrient database for personal digital assistants (PDAs), rel. 17. Home Page. http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp.

Interpretive Summary: The Nutrient Data Laboratory (NDL) has released an easily searchable version of the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Rel. 17 (SR17) for use on handheld Palm® OS personal digital assistants (PDAs). This product allows users to search all foods in SR17, custom modify portion sizes, and obtain online printable reports of the level of up to 30 nutrients in the customized portion. The new version is available for download, at no cost, from the NDL Web site at www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp. A change has been made to the PDA nutrient list for SR17. The food component alpha-tocopherol has been substituted for the component alpha-tocopherol equivalents, which is no longer being disseminated in SR. The PDA search program was developed under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between ARS and HealtheTech, Inc. of Golden Colorado. Due to the easy portability of handheld PDAs, this software application enables scientific investigators, educators, dietitians, and the general public to have easy access to a high quality core set of nutrients when access to the Internet or a personal computer is not feasible. The portable nutrient dataset can be easily accessed at scientific meetings, in classroom settings, at patient point-of-care, and in restaurants or grocery stores to aid in healthy food selection.

Technical Abstract: The Nutrient Data Laboratory (NDL), in conjunction with HealtheTech, Inc., has made modifications necessary to update a search application for personal digital assistants (PDAs) to access the latest release of the National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 17 (SR17). This product blends SR17 with custom search software developed through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between ARS and HealtheTech, Inc., of Golden Colorado. The original product accessed SR15 data. A unique feature of this software is that for a given food item in SR, any disseminated portion size can be custom modified by the user. Printable reports are generated expressing levels of up to 30 food components on the basis of the user-specified serving size. For SR17, the food component alpha-tocopherol has been substituted for alpha-tocopherol equivalents, which are no longer disseminated in SR. The USDA National Nutrient Database for PDAs is available to the public, at no cost, online at the NDL Web site (www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp). This software application allows dietitians and other health professionals to bring high quality nutrient data to patient point-of-care, allows nutrition professionals to have access to nutrient data at meetings and conventions, allows educators to access data in a classroom without personal computers, and enables the general public a small easily portable reference when grocery shopping or making food selections at a restaurant.