Abstract
Novel technology-based dietary assessment methods use volume estimates of foods to assess dietary intake. However, the nutrient content of standard databases is based on food weight. The goal of this study is to evaluate the accuracy of the United States Department of Agriculture National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference (USDA-SR) estimates of volume and the corresponding macronutrient content of the foods. The weights of 35 individual food volumes were measured (on trial) and compared to the USDA-SR-determined weight for the food volume. Macronutrient content corresponding to the trial weight and the USDA-SR weight for the food volume (USDA) were determined using the USDA-SR, and the differences were calculated. There were statistically significant differences between the USDA and trial weights for 80% of foods measured. Calorie estimates by USDA weight were significantly lower than that of trial weight for 54% of foods but were significantly greater for 26% of foods. Differences in macronutrient estimates by trial and USDA weight varied by food type. These findings suggest that nutrient databases based on food weight may not provide accurate estimates of dietary intake when assessed using food volumes. Further development of image-assisted dietary assessment methods which measure food volumes will necessitate evaluation of the accuracy of the processes used to convert weight to volume in nutrient databases.
Highlights
Traditional dietary assessment tools, such as multiple-day food records and interviewer-assisted24-h recalls, rely on self-assessment of the amounts of foods eaten
For 52% of food trials, calories determined by USDA-SR weight for the food volume (USDA) weight were significantly lower than by trial weight, and for 26% of foods, calories determined by USDA were significantly greater than by trial weight, the absolute value of these differences was small for many foods
This study demonstrates that for selected food volumes, substantial differences existed between the corresponding USDA-derived and trial weights measured in a research kitchen
Summary
24-h recalls, rely on self-assessment of the amounts of foods eaten. It is a well-documented fact that people cannot accurately recall or estimate the amount of food they consume [1,2,3]. Emerging technology-based dietary assessment methods that use images to assess the types and amounts of foods people consume have the potential to provide more objective estimates of dietary intake. The United States Department of Agriculture National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference (USDA-SR) [4] is the primary source of food composition data in the US and serves as the foundation for most public and private food and nutrient databases, such as the Nutrition Data System for Research (NDS-R) [5]. USDA-SR is compiled of data from published and unpublished sources, including the
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