ARS | Publication request: USDA NATIONAL NUTRIENT DATABASE FOR STANDARD REFERENCE, RELEASE 19

Submitted to: Home Page
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: August 6, 2006
Publication Date: August 6, 2006
Citation: Gebhardt, S.E., Cutrufelli, R.L., Howe, J.C., Haytowitz, D.B., Pehrsson, P.R., Lemar, L.E., Holcomb, G.T., Stup, M.A., Thomas, R.G., Exler, J., Showell, B.A., Holden, J.M. 2006. Usda national nutrient database for standard reference, release 19. Home Page www.ars.usda.gov/nutrientdata.

Interpretive Summary: The USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 19 (SR19) is the major source of food composition data in the United States and provides the foundation for most public and private sector databases. SR19 contains nutrient data for 7,291 food items for up to 140 food components, such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and fatty acids. It replaces the previous release, SR18 issued in August 2005. SR19 includes new data for a number of foods analyzed under the National Food and Nutrient Analysis Program (NFNAP); a program designed to 1) identify those foods that are the major contributors of nutrients to the U.S. diet 2) conduct a probability-based nationwide sampling of those foods and 3) analyze the samples under USDA supervised laboratory contracts. Major changes made to the SR database since the last release include: the addition of about 500 nutrient values for fluoride from the USDA National Fluoride Database of Selected Beverages and Foods - Release 2; the addition of nutrient values for total choline and betaine for approximately 500 foods from the USDA Database for the Choline Content of Common Foods; the addition of about 50 traditional or subsistence foods collected for development of the American Indian/Alaska Native Foods Database: 74 new cured ham items have been added to SR, including cured natural hams and the following enhanced products: ham with natural juices, ham and water added, and ham and water product. In addition to the nutrients and foods mentioned above, a number of new foods were added to the database including 30 breakfast cereals, 29 fast foods (breakfast items, hamburger and chicken sandwiches) and 26 sweets (desserts, frostings and candies) using data submitted by the food industry or generated by USDA through NFNAP. In addition, many nutrient values in all food groups have been updated with new data from NFNAP, food companies, and the scientific literature. A number of brand name items in Baked Products, Breakfast Cereals, and Meals, Entrees, and Sidedishes were deleted because products were no longer on the market or nutritional information does not reflect current market data. Update files are provided for users who have incorporated SR18 or earlier releases into their systems and wish to perform their own updates. The data are available to search or download from the Nutrient Data Laboratory Website (www.ars.usda.gov/nutrientdata) on the Internet. Currently the Website is being accessed over 200,000 times a month. Major applications of SR include the development of the Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Surveys (FNDDS) by the Food Surveys Research Group of USDA. The FNDDS is used to process dietary data records from their survey What We Eat in America, the dietary intake component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Technical Abstract: The USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 19 contains data for 7,291 food items for up to 140 food components when a complete profile is available for a food item. It replaces the previous release, SR18, issued in August 2005. Data in SR19 supersede values in the printed Handbooks and previous electronic releases of the database. Major applications of SR include the development of the Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Surveys (FNDDS) by the Food Surveys Research Group of USDA. The FNDDS is used to process dietary data records from their survey What We Eat in America, the dietary intake component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Major changes made to the database since the last release include: the addition of about 500 nutrient values for fluoride from the USDA National Fluoride Database of Selected Beverages and Foods - Release 2; the addition of nutrient values for total choline and betaine for approximately 500 foods from the USDA Database for the Choline Content of Common Foods; the addition of about 50 traditional or subsistence foods collected for development of the American Indian/Alaska Native Foods Database; 74 new cured ham items have been added to SR, including cured natural hams, ham with natural juices, ham and water added and ham and water product. In addition to the foods mentioned above, a number of new foods were added to the database including 30 breakfast cereals, 29 fast foods (breakfast items, hamburger and chicken sandwiches) and 26 sweets (desserts, frostings and candies) using data submitted by the food industry or generated by USDA through NFNAP. A complete list of the added food items is in the ADD_FOOD file. In addition, many nutrient values in all food groups have been updated with new data from NFNAP, food companies, and the scientific literature. These can be found in the CHG_NUTR file. A number of brand name items in Baked Products, Breakfast Cereals, and Meals, Entrees, and Sidedishes were deleted because products were no longer on the market or nutritional information does not reflect current market data The database is being provided in the two relational formats (ASCII and Microsoft Access). There are four principal files: Food Description, Nutrient Data, Gram Weight, and Footnotes; and six support files: Nutrient Definition, Food Group Description, Source Code, Derivation Code, Sources of Data File, and Sources of Data Link File. An update file for the database, intended for users who have obtained SR18 or earlier releases and wish to perform their own updates, is provided. An abbreviated file is provided as a flat file and as a MS Excel spreadsheet. The abbreviated file does not include values for alcohol, caffeine, phytosterols, starch, theobromine, vitamin D, or individual amino acids, fatty acids, individual sugars, fluoride, choline and betaine. The data are available to search or download from the Nutrient Data Laboratory Web site on the Internet http://www.ars.usda.gov/nutrientdata.