ARS | Publication request: THE USDA FOOD AND NUTRIENT DATABASE FOR DIETARY STUDIES, 2.0

Submitted to: World Wide Web
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: June 11, 2006
Publication Date: July 26, 2006
Citation: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. 2006. USDA food and nutrient database for dietary studies 2.0. Available: http://www.ars.usda.gov/ba/bhnrc/fsrg.

Interpretive Summary: 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 used to process food intakes from the large-scale Federal food consumption survey What We Eat in America (WWEIA), the dietary intake component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). FNDDS contains information for several thousand foods, including many brand name products. Values for food energy and 62 other nutrients are included for each food, as well as weights for common portions of the food. The U.S. food supply is constantly changing, with thousands of new products and packages introduced each year. FNDDS is regularly updated to reflect the current state of the U.S. food market and to support processing of WWEIA. New versions of FNDDS are released every two years to accompany the release of NHANES dietary intake data. This update (version 2.0) of FNDDS was used to process food intakes from WWEIA/NHANES 2003-2004. Extensive documentation, valuable to both new and previous users, accompanies the database. This includes a table describing changes to the database since version 1.0. Also included are sample Microsoft Access queries that demonstrate how to link data files to answer research questions. The database can be downloaded on-line, thus putting a valuable dietary research tool at the fingertips of users. The expert information contained in FNDDS is indispensable for processing dietary intake data into forms suitable for analysis. The database may be used in conjunction with research utilizing dietary data from WWEIA/NHANES 2003-2004, or it may be used in other dietary studies. The availability and accessibility of the FNDDS is beneficial to public policy administrators and other government groups, to dietitians and the food industry, as well as to scientists conducting research that involves collecting food intake data.

Technical Abstract: The USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS) 2.0 is used to code foods and calculate nutrient values for national food surveys. This version of the FNDDS was used to process food intakes from What We Eat in America/NHANES 2003-2004, and it can also be used in other dietary studies. FNDDS provides comprehensive information for use in coding dietary intakes and analyzing those intakes for nutrient content. It includes descriptions for 13,500 foods; approximately 30,000 weights for common food portions; and complete data for food energy and 62 nutrients/food components. The database consists of 10 separate but linked data files. Together, the files form a normalized, relational database system where data redundancy is minimized. The database is available for downloading in either Microsoft Access or ASCII format at http://www.ars.usda.gov/ba/bhnrc/fsrg. The Web site includes detailed downloading instructions and extensive documentation describing the database. The documentation is also included as an integral part of the database download package.