FST 224

TOPIC: FOOD COMPOSITION

COURSE CODE:
COURSE LECTURER:
 INTRODUCTION
 Foods are chemically analyzed for a variety of purposes.
 Food composition databases rely on nutritional and toxicological analyses conducted by government, academia
and industry to determine the potential contributions of foods to the diet, and to determine compliance with
regulations concerning composition, quality, safety and labelling.
 Early food composition studies were carried out to identify and determine the chemical nature of the principles
in foods that affect human health.
 These studies were also concerned with the mechanisms whereby chemical constituents exert their influence and
provided the basis for the early development of the science of nutrition, and they continue to be central to the
development of the nutritional sciences.
 Recent knowledge of nutrition is still incomplete, and studies are still required, often at an ever increasing level
of complexity, into the composition of foods and the role of these components and their interactions in health
and disease.
INTRODUCTION

 It has become customary to record food composition data in printed tables for use by both specialists
and non-specialists. While printed tables will continue to be produced, computerized data systems have
replaced them in some settings because of the ease with which data can be stored, and the facility with
which the large amounts of data can be accessed and processed.
 These systems are increasingly used to generate printed and computerized food composition tables and
data files. Computerized and printed tables generally contain a subset of nutrients and foods and often
no further documentation.
 A single computerized data system can generate a variety of tables and files, each containing specific
subsets of numeric, descriptive and graphical information
INTRODUCTION

 Studies of the relationship between diet and health have led to increased interest in the range of
biologically active constituents present in foods that accompany the nutrients, and data for these
constituents are often required, as are data for additives and contaminants.
 A well-designed data system can accommodate non-nutrient data, although this should not detract from
the primary objective of the database programme – the provision of data on the nutrient content of
foods.
METHODS OF COMPILING FOOD COMPOSITION
TABLES
Direct method
 The advantage of the direct method, in which all of the values are the results of analyses carried out
specifically for the database being compiled, is that close control of the sampling, analysis and quality
control procedures yields highly reliable data.
 Early UK food composition workers analyzed different purchases of the same food separately, but
without duplicate determinations, with the intention of gaining some limited information on nutrient
variation in each food.
 In subsequent versions of the UK tables, however, the various purchases of the food were combined,
reducing costs and increasing the number of foods that could be analyzed in a given period of time.
 Even with this procedure, the direct method remains costly and time-consuming, and imposes pressure
on the analytical resources available in many parts of the world.
METHODS OF COMPILING FOOD COMPOSITION
TABLES
Indirect method
 The indirect method uses data taken from published literature or unpublished laboratory reports. There
is consequently less control over the quality of the data, which may be uneven. Great care must
therefore be taken in their appraisal for inclusion in the database.
 In some cases, values are imputed, calculated (see below), or taken from other tables or databases, and
it may be impossible to refer back to the original source; these values carry a lower degree of
confidence. The indirect method is most commonly employed when analytical resources are limited, or
the food supply is largely drawn from food imported from other countries where compositional data
are available.
 Although the indirect method is clearly less demanding of analytical resources than the direct method,
the level of scrutiny required often makes it time consuming and costly
METHODS OF COMPILING FOOD COMPOSITION
TABLES

Combination method
 Most food composition databases nowadays are prepared by a combination of the direct and indirect
methods, containing original analytical values together with values taken from the literature and from
other databases as well as imputed and calculated values.
 This combination method is the most cost-effective and is particularly successful when staple foods are
analyzed directly, and data for less important foods are taken from the literature (including that from
other countries, if necessary).
 However, minimization of the amount of imputed and calculated values in principle increases the
reliability and representativeness of the database.
TYPES OF FOOD COMPOSITION DATA
Food composition databases currently available contain compositional values of differing quality,
reflecting the different ways in which they were obtained. If data are to be used internationally they must
be of consistent and compatible quality so that they can be used in combination for collaboration between
individuals and countries in nutritional research, nutrition education, food regulation, and food production
and processing. Data types and sources can be identified in food composition databases by codes. There
are different types of data which include:
 Original analytical values
 Imputed values
 Calculated values
 Borrowed values
 Presumed values
TYPES OF FOOD COMPOSITION DATA
Original analytical values
 These are values taken from the published literature or unpublished laboratory reports, whether or not
they were from analyses carried out explicitly for the purpose of compiling the database. They may be
assimilated into the database unmodified, or as a selection or average of analytical values, or as
combinations weighted to ensure that the final values are representative. Original calculated values are
included in this category.
Borrowed values
 These are values taken from other tables and databases where reference back to the original source
may or may not be possible. Adequate reference to original sources is necessary to justify a borrowed
value. In some cases, the borrowed values should be adapted to the different water and/or fat contents.
TYPES OF FOOD COMPOSITION DATA
Imputed values
 These data are estimates derived from analytical values obtained for a similar food (e.g. values for peas used for
green beans) or for another form of the same food (e.g. values for “boiled” used for “steamed”). They may also be
derived by calculation from incomplete or partial analyses of a food. Similar calculations can be made by
comparing data for different forms of the same food.
Calculated values
 These are values derived from recipes, calculated from the nutrient contents of the ingredients and corrected for
preparation factors: loss or gain in weight, usually referred to as yields, and micronutrient changes, usually
referred to as retention factors. Such values are only rough estimates, because the preparation conditions for
recipes vary dramatically, such as cooking temperature and duration, which will significantly affect yield and
retention. Another calculation method is the calculation of the nutrient values of cooked foods based on those of
raw foods or foods cooked in a different way, using specific algorithms, retention and yield factors.
CRITERIA FOR A COMPREHENSIVE FOOD
COMPOSITION DATABASE
 Data should be representative :Values should represent the best available estimate of the usual composition
of foods in the forms most commonly obtained or consumed. Ideally, some measure of variability in the
composition of the food should be given.
 Data should be of sound analytical quality :Original analytical data from rigorously scrutinized sources are
the ideal. Values from other databases, and imputed or calculated data should be included only when original
analytical data are not available or are known not to be of sufficient quality.
 Coverage of foods should be comprehensive: The database should include all foods that form a major part of
the food supply and as many as possible of the less frequently consumed foods.
 Data should be consistently and unambiguously expressed :The data should be unambiguous in mode of
expression and consistent in the use of units, factors used in calculation, and procedures used in rounding
values.
 CRITERIA FOR A COMPREHENSIVE FOOD
COMPOSITION DATABASE
 Food descriptions should be clear: To be easily identified, foods must be unambiguously named and described.
 Coverage of nutrients should be comprehensive :Values should be included for all of the nutrients and other
components known or believed to be important to human health. National priorities regarding health will have a
major role in deciding which nutrients should be included.
 Origins of data should be provided at nutrient value level :Information should be given on the sources of the data,
noting whether data are analytical, calculated or imputed, and, as appropriate, on the procedures of any calculation
and imputation, and the methods of sampling and analysis. Confidence or quality codes for the values should also
be supplied.
 Tables and databases should be easy to use: In addition to having clear terminology and systematic expression,
databases and computerized tables must be easily accessible and readily understood. Printed tables should be of
clear legibility and manageable size and weight.
USES OF FOOD COMPOSITION DATA

 Food composition data are used primarily for the assessment and the planning of human energy and
nutrient intakes. In both cases, the approach is most useful when applied to groups rather than
individuals.
 Assessment and planning can be divided into several subcategories for which the precise requirements
of the database differ and for which additional information is required.
USES OF FOOD COMPOSITION DATA
Individual level
 A person’s nutrient intake can be calculated by the use of food composition data and food intake data
(estimated from a dietary history or dietary recall or measured in a weighed intake study). This
information can show gross dietary adequacy or inadequacy, or dietary imbalance, and is important in
the determination of dietary advice or in prescription of a therapeutic diet. The user must be aware,
however, that due to the natural variability of foodstuffs, food composition data may not predict the
composition of a single portion of any particular food with accuracy.
Group level
 Foods consumed by populations can be measured by various techniques and translated, by means of
food composition data, into nutrients consumed. The results give one indication of the nutritional
status of the group and may be used to explore the relationship of a diet to a variety of health indices –
sickness and death patterns, growth rate, birth weight, measures of clinical nutritional status, physical
performance, etc.
LIMITATIONS OF FOOD COMPOSITION
DATABASES
 The limitations of food composition tables or databases are often not sufficiently understood by many users.
Foods, being biological materials, exhibit variations in composition; therefore a database cannot accurately predict
the composition of any given single sample of a food.
 Hence, although food composition tables and databases can be used to devise a diet, meal or supplement, the
levels of nutrients are essentially estimates. For metabolic studies a direct analysis is usually necessary to obtain
the required accuracy in the measured intake of the nutrients being studied.
 Further, food composition databases and tables are limited in their usefulness for regulatory as well as scientific
purposes. They cannot predict accurately the nutrient levels in any food; this is especially true for labile nutrients
(e.g. vitamin C and folates) or constituents added or removed during food preparation (fat, moisture).
 Furthermore, the composition of a given food may change with time (e.g. a manufacturer’s formulation may
change) invalidating the use of the values in the database. Predictive accuracy is also constrained by the ways in
which data are maintained in a database
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