Nutrition Info While On the Go

Agricultural Research/March 2003

icture, for example, a female

health enthusiast cruising a

grocery store’s seafood count-

er. She wants to make sure she

gets her recommended dietary allowance

of protein. She whips out her personal

digital assistant, or PDA, and up comes

a searchable version of USDA’s flagship

nutrient database of more than 6,000

food items.

Our health enthusiast wants to see

how much protein she’ll get out of that

tuna steak she’s been eyeing. So she pulls

out her stylus, skips the “Browse by Food

Groups” option, and uses the search fea-

ture to go straight to “tuna.” Hmmm, a

3-ounce portion of cooked tuna steak has

25 grams of protein. With that choice,

our 135-pound enthusiast will get half

her recommended daily intake of dietary

protein in one sitting. Not bad.

The new, portable version of USDA’s

National Nutrient Database for Standard

Reference is now available for download

free of charge onto hand-held PDAs run-

ning the Palm operating system (Palm

OS) by going to www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/

Nutrition Info While

Nutrition Info While On the Go

STEPHEN AUSMUS (K10302-1)

foodcomp. The download takes about 30

seconds and requires about 2 megabytes

of available memory on PDAs.

ARS and HealtheTech, Inc., of

Golden, Colorado, worked together to

provide the service through a cooper-

ative research and development agree-

ment (CRADA). ARS has entered into

more than 1,000 CRADAs since federal

technology transfer legislation was

enacted in 1986. That legis-

lation helps the federal

government’s research find-

ings reach and benefit U.S.

consumers and industry.

The PDA application was

developed by scientists at

ARS’ Nutrient Data Laboratory—part of

the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research

Center, located in Beltsville, Mary-

land—and HealtheTech, which develops

and markets medical devices and soft-

ware that measure and monitor im-

portant health variables.

The unique product blends a custom-

made searchable software application

with the nutrient database. “Consumers,

health professionals, and educators seek-

ing user-friendly nutrient data will no

longer be limited to using the USDA’s

premier nutrient database only while

online,” says Phyllis E. Johnson, direc-

tor of ARS’ Henry A. Wallace Beltsville

Agricultural Research Center.

Assembled by food groupings, the

database allows users to search by food

name or browse a given category by

scrolling through foods listed alphabet-

ically. Has the dietitian suggested you

eat more high-calcium foods? Try scroll-

ing through the “Dairy and Egg” food

group and point to options that look ap-

pealing. Within seconds, the nutrient

report with a calcium quantity in milli-

grams appears to hone your healthy

choice. Did your doctor say you’re not

getting enough potassium? Try the

“Fruits and Fruit Juices” group as well

as the “Vegetables and Vegetable Prod-

ucts” group.

Another friendly option of the

program is the “Portion Modifier.” If the

portion size listed isn’t what you plan

on eating, you can adjust it up or down.

Agricultural Research/March 2003

Nutrient-Database

Upgrades Coming Soon

The Nutrient Data Laboratory (NDL)—part of ARS’ Beltsville (Mary-

land) Human Nutrition Research Center—provides the USDA National Nu-

trient Database for Standard Reference (SR) for public use. The database

lists up to 117 nutrients for 6,220 food items and has been hailed by users

as the major authoritative source of food composition in the United States.

While the PDA version may be the best thing since sliced bread for

hand-held-computer techies, other upgrades soon to come will appeal equal-

ly to educators, consumers, and health professionals.

Those who continue to use the original version of

SR via the Internet will find new search capabilities

added to enhance their on-line experience. After key-

ing in a food term, the user will not only trigger a list-

ing of every item in the database containing that food

term, but also a listing of which food groups contain

that term. Users who want to narrow their search fur-

ther can re-search within the food groups presented.

For example, a user searching for carrots may want

to pursue carrots only in the “Baby Foods” group, by-

passing the “Meals, Entrees, and Side Dishes” group.

Also new to the on-line version will be a “Portion Modifier” option.

After clicking on “Carrots, raw,” you’ll be able to choose from a variety of

standard portion sizes. But if you’d prefer to increase or decrease those

portions—essentially customizing your measure—a box will allow you to

do just that. Also new, the Boolean search term “not” will be added, allow-

ing users to exclude unwanted foods, for example, “Carrots, not raw.”

The new “Ground Beef Module” will be exclusive to the on-line version

and allows users to trigger data to match specific lean-to-fat percentages

offered regionally. While ground-beef data appears for five standard lean-

to-fat ratios, ranging from 95 percent lean/5 percent fat to 75 percent lean/

25 percent fat, local butchers could offer different ratios. With the “Ground

Beef Module,” the user can choose the percentage of lean meat content

versus fat content, for example, 92 percent lean/8 percent fat, and nutrient

data will be provided accordingly.

The upgrades will soon be available at www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp.

Lastly, a new PC-download version will also launch soon. The NDL,

working with HealtheTech, Inc., of Golden, Colorado, through a cooperative

research and development agreement, has enabled users to download a

searchable version to their PC hard drives for their own use free of charge.

The application runs on Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98, or

Windows ME. After the download is complete, Internet connectivity will

no longer be required. This version will include the portion-

size modifier and the Boolean “not” capability

described above as well as the option to search

the entire database at once or, more narrowly, by

food group(s) alone. The PC-download version

will also be available at the web address provided

above.—By Rosalie Marion Bliss, ARS.

USDA’s National Nutrient Database is now

available for download onto hand-held

personal digital assistants running the

Palm operating system (above). At left,

nutritionist Vincent de Jesus uses the

portable database to find the nutrient

content of bell peppers.

STEPHEN AUSMUS (K10301-1)

The modified

portion’s nutrient

content pops up to

help you make a

final decision.

The system provides infor-

mation on about 30 nutrients for each

food listed. This user-friendly searchable

software application will soon be avail-

able for download onto personal com-

puters, as well.—By Rosalie Marion

Bliss, ARS.

This research is part of Human Nu-

trition, an ARS National Program (#107)

described on the World Wide Web at

www.nps.ars.usda.gov.

Rena Cutrufelli and Vincent de Jesus

are with the USDA-ARS Nutrient Data

Laboratory, 10300 Baltimore Ave., Bldg.

005, Beltsville, MD 20705-

2350; phone (301) 504-0693

[Cutrufelli], (301) 504-0691

[de Jesus], fax (301) 504-

0692, e-mail rcutrufelli@

rbhnrc.usda.gov,

vdejesus@rbhnrc.usda.

gov. ★