Development of a food composition database to monitor changes in packaged foods and beverages

Abstract

In order to monitor nutritional changes in the US food supply and assess potential impact on individual dietary intake, an approach was developed to enhance existing standard food composition tables with time-varying product- and brand-specific information for barcoded packaged foods. A “Crosswalk” was formed between barcoded products and USDA foodcodes in a time-specific manner, such that sales-weighted average nutritional profiles were generated for each foodcode based on corresponding products (275,000 to 350,000 per 2-year cycle). This Crosswalk-enhanced food composition table was applied to dietary intake data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (cycles 2007–2008, 2009–2010, and 2011–2012). Total energy density of foods consumed by Americans from stores/vending was stable over time and differed by <5 kcal/100g using the Crosswalk-enhanced vs standard database. However, changes in the energy density of food groups were found utilizing the Crosswalk that were not detected using the standard database. Likewise, significant declines in energy intake from beverages among children (288±7.3 to 258±6.8 kcal/d) were found using the Crosswalk-enhanced database but were non-significant using the standard database. The Crosswalk approach can potentially augment national nutrition surveys by utilizing commercial food purchase and nutrient databases to capture changes in the nutrient content of packaged foods.

Added Sugars and Low- and No-Calorie Sweeteners in a Representative Sample of Food Products Consumed by the Spanish ANIBES Study Population

“…Food composition databases and tables might not reflect these rapidly occurring changes in the food supply as most databases lack information on these ingredients in foodstuffs (presence and quantity), therefore their main dietary sources remain unknown [ 13 ]. Nutrition research requires comprehensive nutrient and component databases capable of capturing newly introduced or reformulated products in the marketplace [ 7 , 14 ]. Moreover, very few studies using comparable methodologies have been published at present.…”

Obesity Prevention Interventions and Implications for Energy Balance in the United States and Mexico: A Systematic Review of the Evidence and Meta‐Analysis

“…In particular, population‐based studies rely on self‐reported food intake. Even 24‐hour dietary recalls that are considered to be the best method to collect usual intakes are very limited by misreporting and the limited nutrient databases relative to the massive number of items available for consumption . Thus, developing new technologies to collect the types and amounts of foods and beverages people eat in real time is sorely needed to significantly improve the accuracy with which we can measure diet.…”

A Tool to Measure Young Adults’ Food Intake: Design and Development of an Australian Database of Foods for the Eat and Track Smartphone App

“…A database of packaged food and beverages has been developed in the United States [ 32 ]. Consistent with the current study, they found some limitations in the US Food Composition database for assessing population trends in the nutrients provided from packaged foods that were continually changing and being updated [ 32 ]. In our case, the deficiency is with the inclusion of extensive data on foods prepared outside the home, which appears to be dominant in young adults’ food intake.…”

“…In our case, the deficiency is with the inclusion of extensive data on foods prepared outside the home, which appears to be dominant in young adults’ food intake. The US research group was able to demonstrate that the use of the modified database identified changes in the energy density of foods from stores and vending machines that the generic database could not when applied to the same National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey dietary data [ 32 ]. This may be important in studying trends in food consumption over time and explanation of changes in population prevalence of overweight and obesity.…”