Databases for analyzing dietary data—the latest word from What We Eat in America

Abstract

The Food Surveys Research Group, part of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), processes several thousand 24-h dietary recalls each year for the government's survey of What We Eat in America. The latest available intake data are from the Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII) 1994–1996, 1998 which have been released in two forms: (1) the traditional form of food and nutrient intakes and (2) a new form described as the Food Commodity Intake Database. The latter form involved translating the CSFII data into the equivalent amounts of basic food commodities as defined by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Developed primarily for assessing risk from dietary exposure to pesticides, it provides the ability to study intakes for specific commodities, such as apples, regardless of how the food was used in various mixtures. Coding and processing survey data involves using extensive information about foods. Accordingly, ARS has developed and keeps up-to-date large technical food databases for this work, including the USDA food coding scheme, food measures and weights, recipes for food mixtures, and the Survey Nutrient Database. These databases, all publicly available, are widely used in food and nutrition research in the United States and have been used as models for databases supporting national food surveys in other countries.