ARS | Publication request: The USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies, 3.0

Submitted to: Worldwide Web Site: Food Surveys Research Group
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: April 29, 2008
Publication Date: May 13, 2008
Reprint URL: http://www.ars.usda.gov/services/docs.htm?docID=12089
Citation: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. 2008. The USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies, 3.0. Available: www.ars.usda.gov/services/docs.htm?docID=12089

Interpretive Summary: The USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS) is an extensive database of foods as consumed in the U.S. It is used to code foods and portion sizes and to calculate nutrients for 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 more than 13,500 foods, including many brand-name products. Values for food energy and 63 other nutrients are included for each food, as well as weights for common portions of the food. Many of these values are derived from the USDA National Nutrient Database Standard Reference (SR), release #20. 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 the NHANES dietary intake data. This update (version 3.0) of FNDDS was used to process food intakes from WWEIA, NHANES 2005-2006. Extensive documentation, valuable to both new and previous users, accompanies the database. This includes a table describing changes to the database since version 2.0. For the first time, the database is being released as a SAS dataset, in addition to the MS Access® and ASCII formats. The database can be downloaded on-line, thus putting a valuable dietary research tool at the fingertips of the users. The database may be used in conjunction with research utilizing dietary data from WWEIA, NHANES 2005-2006, 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), 3.0 is used to code foods and portion sizes and to calculate nutrients for national food surveys. This version of the FNDDS was used to process food intakes from What We Eat In America, the dietary intake component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2006. The database includes descriptions for over 13,500 foods, about 30,000 weights for common food portions and food energy, and 63 nutrient/food components for each of these foods. Many of these values are derived from the USDA National Nutrient Database Standard Reference (SR), release #20. The FNDDS 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 from the Food Survey Research Group (FSRG) web site in three formats: 1) Microsoft Access® database; 2) SAS dataset; and 3) ASCII text files. The FSRG web site http://www.ars.usda.gov/ba/bhnrc/fsrg includes detailed downloading instructions and extensive documentation describing the database. The documentation is also included as an integral part of the database download package.