Report12th IFDC 2017 Special issue – Brazilian Nutrient Intake Evaluation Database: An essential tool for estimating nutrient intake data⋆
Introduction
Food composition tables (FCTs) and computational tools, including national data, are rarely used in National Dietary Surveys (NDS) in Brazil due to several issues. The most common problems are related to insufficient information regarding the number of components of the foods included and a lack of clarity in terms of the data’s origin (namely, lack of identification of analytical methods and use of inappropriate analytical methods for certain components).
The latest NDS of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (NDS/IBGE 2008–2009) involved collecting food consumption data from the Brazilian population and using American software to evaluate the nutrient intake. Although the survey also used published data regarding Brazilian foods, almost 90% of the information was derived from North American foods and food products (Brasil, 2011).
The Brazilian Food Composition Table (TBCA) was launched in 1998 as the first FCT available online in Latin America. The TBCA was a result of collaboration between the Brazilian Network of Food Data System (BRASILFOODS) and the Department of Food and Experimental Nutrition of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of São Paulo. The table was elaborated from chemical analyses carried out specifically for this purpose; information on national food composition from publications and dissertations; and data from governmental and private laboratories, research groups, and food industries. The data compilation involved careful evaluation of the information. Certain components were simultaneously analyzed at the University of São Paulo to complete the information. Both the analytical procedures and data compilation were performed according to the guidelines of the International Network of Food Data System (INFOODS) and the Latin American Network of Food Data System (LATINFOODS).
Until version 5.0 of the TBCA, the analytical data on food and food products produced and commercialized in Brazil were presented in separate databases: proximate composition, dietary fiber, resistant starch, carbohydrate profile (soluble sugars and total, available, and resistant starches), fatty acids and cholesterol, vitamin A and carotenoids, and minerals and glycemic response. These databases could be searched on the website by food name (in Portuguese or English) or by scientific name. The resulting report presented all available information for the selected food.
Initially, the goal of the TBCA was to centralize national food composition data, which was dispersed in the literature, and in-house data from several laboratories. However, this approach was not enough to enable nutrient intake evaluation, which would require a comprehensive FCT not only of the number of foods, but also of the components included. Thus, the goal of the TBCA version 7.0 is to provide Brazilian researchers with a food composition database that prioritizes national data to allow the evaluation of the population’s nutrient intake. Therefore, the TBCA database was completely reformulated to create the Nutrient Intake Evaluation Database (NIE-DB). The TBCA NIE-DB provides grouped information on energy, proximate composition, fat fraction, and vitamins and minerals, and it comprises 34 components (TBCA, 2017).
The aim of this new database is to serve as a reliable tool for the nutrient intake evaluation of individuals and populations, such as the NDS/IBGE. Moreover, by using internationally recognized standardization criteria, the TBCA NIE-DB team aims to provide high-quality nutrient data with comparability across countries, allowing for a broader use of the database in international study contexts. The TBCA NIE-DB is therefore a database that could support, for example, the recently adapted Brazilian version of the GloboDiet software, a standardized and computerized methodology for the collection of individual food consumption data that was developed by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and that is currently under the auspices of the World Health Organization (Bel-Serrat et al., 2017). In conjunction with this software, the TBCA NIE-DB will be employed as a superior method in the third wave of the Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brazil), the largest epidemiological study in Latin America, for the purpose of calibrating a food frequency questionnaire currently in use.
Section snippets
Material and methods used for data compilation
Data compiled over the past few years formed the basis of the NIE-DB elaboration. During this process, whenever possible, priority was given to analytical data from foods produced or commercialized in Brazil. The creation of the NIE-DB included four steps: (i) aggregating food records with similar descriptions to cover foods reported in food consumption surveys, (ii) filling in missing data using strict criteria, (iii) collecting recipes for composite dishes and calculating nutrient profiles by
Results and discussion
Initially, data was aggregated for 1500 foods, including (i) fresh foods (vegetables, fruits, and meat); (ii) single-ingredient recipes (boiled vegetables; meat, whether boiled, grilled, or baked; and boiled pasta, cereals, and legumes); (iii) processed foods used as ingredients, such as wheat flour, cornmeal, and unprepared powders; (iv) ready-to-eat food products, such as bread, cookies, sauces, oil, margarine and olive oil, chocolates, and sugar and dairy products, among other products that
Conclusions
The TBCA NIE-DB includes raw and cooked foods, food products, and composite dishes comprising 3437 food entries and is a tool for evaluating food frequency questionnaires and dietary recall. The database is available online at the TBCA website (www.fcf.usp.br/tbca), which has been completely restructured. The new TBCA NIE-DB allows the assessment of the nutrient intake of both individuals and the population at large for the first time in Brazil and is primarily based on national food
Declaration of Competing Interest
There are no conflicts of interest to declare.
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the Food Research Center (FoRC/CEPID/FAPESP – Project number 2013/07914-8), by BRASILFOODS, and by the post-graduate program in Applied Human Nutrition (PRONUT/FCF/FEA/FSP/USP). The authors are grateful for the scholarship granted to the Fernanda Grande and Kristy Soraya Coelho by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).
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This paper was originally submitted as an oral presentation at the 12th International Food Data Conference (IFDC) held from 11 to 13 October 2017 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.