The NHLBI nutrition data system

A standardized system for the collection and processing of dietary information in large-scale studies is described. Components of the system include interviewer and coder training, certification and continuing education, automated procedures for identifying and quantitating fat, guides for classifying and quantitating foods, system maintenance and quality control procedures, and a food table containing about 800 food items and 450 recipe items. The system is flexible enough to respond to market changes in formulation. Unique automated features make the system particularly useful in identifying and quantitating different dietary fats. These features could be modified to meet nutritional demands of other studies.