At A Glance

Website

http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=12089

Purpose

FNDDS converts food and beverages consumed in What We Eat in America (WWEIA), the dietary intake component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) into gram amounts and determines their nutrient values. FNDDS also can be applied to dietary data from other surveys.

Target Population

Foods reported on the 24-hour recalls in the WWEIA, NHANES.

Conducted

FNDDS is updated for each 2-year cycle of WWEIA, NHANES. The version of FNDDS that corresponds to the WWEIA, NHANES release is designated with the two years of WWEIA, NHANES, i.e., FNDDS 2015-2016 corresponds to WWEIA, NHANES 2015-2016.

Sponsor

Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Special Note(s)

See the 1994-1996 and 1998 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals Food Coding Database, Survey Nutrient Database, and Recipe Database.

Sampling

Sample Design

Database, not a survey. Database includes all foods reported in corresponding WWEIA, NHANES survey.

Sample Size

Does not involve sampling. Database includes 8,000+ food and beverages.

Key Variables

Diet-Related

Name	Methods of Assessment
Added Vitamin B12	N/A
Added Vitamin E	N/A
Alcohol	N/A
Alpha-carotene	N/A
Beta-carotene	N/A
Beta-cryptoxanthin	N/A
Caffeine	N/A
Calcium	N/A
Carbohydrate	N/A
Cholesterol	N/A
Choline	N/A
Copper	N/A
Dietary fiber	N/A
Food energy	N/A
Food folate	N/A
Folate (DFE)	N/A
Folic acid	N/A
Individual fatty acids	N/A
Iron	N/A
Lutein and zeazanthin	N/A
Lycopene	N/A
Monounsaturated fat	N/A
Niacin	N/A
Phosphorus	N/A
Polyunsaturated fat	N/A
Potassium	N/A
Protein	N/A
Retinol	N/A
Riboflavin	N/A
Saturated fat	N/A
Selenium	N/A
Sodium	N/A
Theobromine	N/A
Thiamin	N/A
Total fat	N/A
Total sugars	N/A
Vitamin A	N/A
Vitamin B6	N/A
Vitamin B12	N/A
Vitamin C	N/A
Vitamin D	N/A
Vitamin E	N/A
Vitamin K	N/A
Magnesium	N/A
Zinc	N/A

Special Note(s)

The 2011-2012, 2013-2014, and 2015-2016 FNDDS include an identifier code indicating if a food/beverage is “fortified” or contains “fortified ingredients”.

List of Nutrients can be found here

Data Access and Cost

Data Availability

Obtain data from the USDA Food Surveys Research Group (FSRG) website.

Cost

Free of charge.

Geocode/Linkage

Geocode Variable(s)

Data are not geocoded but they can be linked to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and the Food Patterns Equivalents Database (FPED) using the food codes.

Existing Linkages

Data have been linked to WWEIA, NHANES dietary data and FPED.

Special Note(s)

Data also could be linked to any other survey or study using FNDDS food codes.

Selected Publications

General

Ahuja JKC, Goldman JD, Perloff B. The effect of improved food composition data on intake estimates in the United States of America. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 2006;19(Suppl 1):S7-S13.

Ajuja JKC, Perloff BP. Quality control procedures for the USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies nutrient values. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 2008;21(Suppl 1):S119-S124.

Bodner-Montville J, Ahuja JKC, Ingwersen LA, Haggerty ES, Enns CW, and Perloff BP. USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies: Released on the web. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 2006; 19 (Supplement 1):S100-S107.

Find tables of nutrient intakes, dietary data briefs, and research papers for WWEIA, NHANES at:

https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-area/beltsville-md-bhnrc/beltsville-human-nutrition-research-center/food-surveys-research-group/docs/research-articles/

https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-area/beltsville-md-bhnrc/beltsville-human-nutrition-research-center/food-surveys-research-group/docs/wweia-data-briefs/

https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-area/beltsville-md-bhnrc/beltsville-human-nutrition-research-center/food-surveys-research-group/docs/wweia-data-tables/

https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-area/beltsville-md-bhnrc/beltsville-human-nutrition-research-center/food-surveys-research-group/docs/wweia-usual-intake-data-tables/

Resources

Documentation/Codebook(s)

Details about the FNDDS data file contents and formats.

Tools

The What’s In the Foods You Eat Search Tool, available as both an online or downloadable version, allows user to view nutrient profiles for about 13,000 commonly eaten foods.