Task 1: Key Concepts About the Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS)

The FNDDS is a database of foods, their nutrient values, and their weights for typical food portions.  It consists of three components, including the food descriptions component, the food portions and weights component, and the nutrients component.  These three components are used to process and analyze NHANES dietary recall data.

 

Food Description Component

The Food Descriptions Component contains descriptions for about 13,000 foods.  Every food in the database has an 8-digit code associated with it.  These codes are the link between the FNDDS and the recall data.  These codes are used to identify foods in each of the three FNDDS components.