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Wiley InterScience | ||
![]() Nutrition BulletinVolume 31 Issue 1, Pages 15 - 20 Published Online: 21 Feb 2006 Journal compilation © 2009 British Nutrition Foundation
Abstract | References | Full Text: HTML, PDF (Size: 80K) | Related Articles | Citation Tracking REVIEW The history of food composition databases Copyright 2006 British Nutrition Foundation KEYWORDS food composition • history • nutritional value • nutrient databases ABSTRACTSummary 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. |