Comparison of the Micro-Nutrica Nutritional Analysis program and the Russian Food Composition Database using data from the Baltic Nutrition Surveys

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the nutrient content of foods and diets based on data from two food composition databases used in the Baltic Nutrition Surveys (conducted in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 1997): an adapted version of the Finnish Micro-Nutrica Nutritional Analysis program (used in Estonia) and the Russian Institute of Nutrition Food Composition Database (used in Latvia and Lithuania). Design: The adapted Micro-Nutrica and Russian databases were used to estimate the energy and nutrient (protein, fat, carbohydrate, vitamin C, calcium and iron) content of 15 common foodstuffs in the region and the nutrient intakes of 32 Latvian respondents (based on 24-h recalls). Differences between databases were estimated. Results: There were discrepancies in the energy and nutrient content of the 15 selected foods using the two databases. The adapted Micro-Nutrica database generally gave a lower energy content than the Russian database (median: À6%), and a lower fat content for typically fat-rich foods. Intakes of energy, fat, carbohydrate and calcium by the 32 selected respondents were significantly lower when the Micro-Nutrica database was used. Differences were particularly high for fat (difference ¼ À23.5%, 95% confidence interval ¼ À31.1 to À15.8%, Po0.0001). Conclusions:The results suggest that reported comparisons of nutrient intakes in the Baltic countries should be treated with caution and that more research is needed for the development of comparable national databases in the region. Potential differences between databases should be investigated early when international surveys of dietary intake are being planned.

Changing patterns of fruit and vegetable intake in countries of the former Soviet Union

“…It would have required substantially greater resources than were available to administer food frequency or dietary recall surveys. Moreover, except in Armenia, food composition databases used in this region date from the Soviet period and, as we have previously shown in Estonia, are now obsolete (29) . Nevertheless, in the absence of any other published analyses of survey data we believe that the present results have some value in a region that has been the subject of remarkably little public health research.…”

A systematic review of methods to assess intake of saturated fat (SF) among healthy European adults and children: a DEDIPAC (Determinants of Diet and Physical Activity) study

“…This raises an important question: whether the identified instruments are valid to specifically assess SF intake. Another important consideration is the fact that the level of macronutrient intake may be affected by the source of FCD used for calculations [82]. Ideally pan-European studies would use a common data collection instrument tested for validity, a common approach to portion size estimation, and a standardised source of composition data to calculate intake of SF.…”

Comparação do valor nutricional de dez cardápios segundo quatro programas computacionais

“…Vários estudos internacionais compararam características operacionais e bases de dados de nutrientes e de alimentos entre diferentes programas 3,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11] . Entretanto, são escassos os estudos comparativos entre os programas de análise de consumo alimentar disponíveis no mercado nacional 12 .…”

“…Por outro lado, as fontes das bases de dados sofrem influência dos métodos de análise química usados para quantificar o conteúdo de nutrientes dos alimentos, sendo, pois, difícil, presumir de onde se originam as diferenças entre os programas, quando estes se baseiam em diferentes fontes de dados. Além disso, como as bases de dados dos programas são originadas de tabelas provenientes de várias regiões do mundo, as diferenças observadas podem refletir as variações da própria composição dos alimentos: por exemplo, a quantidade de gordura do leite varia de acordo com a raça e a alimentação do animal, o teor de nutrientes dos grãos, das frutas e dos vegetais varia de acordo com as técnicas agrícolas e as condições climáticas tais como, chuva ou seca 11 . Finalmente, as variações observadas entre as bases de dados de nutrientes dos quatro programas podem, ainda, ser atribuídas a diferenças no número de nutrientes com valores ausentes e no modo de apresentação desses dados.…”

“…Outros estudos 6,11 conduziram comparações de bases de dados de nutrientes de programas de países diferentes. Hakala et al 6 compararam dados de consumo alimentar de 20 homens adultos entre programas de computador sueco e finlandês, observando diferenças significantes para os valores de proteína, gordura monoinsaturada, gordura poliinsaturada, tiamina, vitamina B 6 , folato, zinco, cálcio, magnésio, potássio, selênio, ferro e sódio dentre 29 27 em programas computadorizados de planejamento e avaliação de consumo alimentar permitirá novas comparações com outras bases de dados de nutrientes.…”