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The history of food composition databases
Author(s) -
Church S. M.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
nutrition bulletin
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.933
H-Index - 40
eISSN - 1467-3010
pISSN - 1471-9827
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-3010.2006.00538.x
Subject(s) - food composition data , composition (language) , excellence , variety (cybernetics) , resource (disambiguation) , database , computer science , food science , political science , biology , computer network , philosophy , linguistics , artificial intelligence , law , orange (colour)
Summary Food composition databases provide detailed information on the concentrations of nutrients and nutritionally important components in foods. Information on the nutritional composition of foods forms the basis of the quantitative study of nutrition, and is widely used in a variety of fields, including epidemiological research, clinical practice and health promotion, policy and food manufacturing. This review details key milestones in the development of food composition databases, focusing on the history of the well‐known and highly regarded McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods series. Evolving requirements for food composition data are outlined together with changes in the format over time. Finally, the importance of networks and cooperations, such as the new European Food Information Resource (EuroFIR) Network of Excellence, in supporting and improving food composition data is discussed.