Analysis of dietary data

A reliable dietary analysis system is a requirement for accurate nutritional analysis of dietary data. Information provided in this paper can be used to assist with the development of new systems or with evaluation of existing systems. Development of a dietary analysis system for research usually beings with a food composition data set from USDA. Major sources of data to insert for missing values include USDA (provisional data released from the USDA Nutrient Data Bank prior to final data processing), food companies, and the scientific literature. Calculations can be used for estimating nutrient content of some foods. Other components of a dietary analysis system include the method for computerizing the dietary data and the software for making conversions and producing reports. Several resources exist to help researchers develop reliable systems.