THE COMPILATION OF FOOD ANALYSIS VALUES AS A DATABASE FOR DIETARY STUDIES - THE FINNISH EXPERIENCE

In dietary studies the food composition data are needed for assessing intake of study subjects. A database for this purpose should include c ontent for foods as consumed, i.e. the database should include brands and dishes described by recipes. The progress made in developing the n ational Finnish food composition database for dietary studies at the N ational Public Health Institute is presented. The usefulness of a rela tional database model in database maintenance is considered and some g aps (e.g. missing foods and retention factors for loss) are discussed. As future challenges, setting priorities in analysis needs, co-operat ion on food description as well as on nutrient identification are emph asized. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd