Development of a National Food Database in Argentina

ROSSI M.C; TENISI M.; MANGIALAVORI G; ROMERO I; BARRIOS R.; ELORRIAGA N; RÍOS F.; LEVY L; SAMMAN N

Lisboa

Conferencia; 13th International Food Data Conference (IFDC); 2019

INFOODS; Instituto Nacional de Saúde Dr. Ricardo Jorge

The nutritional status of a population directly and indirectly impacts the productive capacity of a nation and the development of populations. The development of Food Composition Tables has several challenges, which is why it is necessary to form interdisciplinary teams that work articulately.ObjectiveTo develop a National Food Composition Table that is up-to-date and methodologically adequate to respond to health needs in the nutritional aspects, formulation of new healthy foods and others.Material and MethodsAn electronic search of literature published from 2010 to the present was conducted with COVIDENCE software in several steps (screening titles and abstract; complete article evaluation and selection). An annotated search for non-indexed ?gray literature?, laboratories informs and thesis was also completed. Quality of data was assessed in terms of sampling and analytical criteria. ResultsA total of 1548 potentially eligible references were identified, out of which 241 articles and reports met inclusion criteria. These studies provided information mainly about energy value and macronutrients and also of vitamins and minerals for 182 individual food items and multi-ingredient foods. Cereals, legumes and derivatives, milk and dairy products, meat, fish and derivatives were the most frequently reported food groups. Non-representative sampling and poor description of the analytical quality control, reports on dry base without including moisture value were the most frequent issues found to reject the sources of data. This information will be soon included in the National Food Data Base. To accomplish this, software has been developed, and work is continuing on the compilation and generation of analytical food composition data.ConclusionsThese results will contribute to the continuous and systematic updating of food composition database, which are of paramount importance for public health. Collaboration among data generators, compilers, and users is essential.