COMPUTERIZED ANALYSIS OF FOOD RECORDS - ROLE OF CODING AND FOOD COMPOSITION DATABASE

Reported dietary intake records of 30 subjects (26 men and 4 women) we re analysed by three different centres using their own computerized nu trient database systems. The agreement between systems was evaluated b y different statistical criteria (the correlation coefficient, the mea n difference and the proportion of individuals placed in the same thir ds of distribution). Significant differences between the three systems were found in the calculation of alcohol, polyunsaturated fatty acids , saturated fatty acids, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, cholesterol, m agnesium, sodium and water. To ascertain the extent of mean difference s that could be attributed to the coding process or to the database us ed, coding forms of each centre were forwarded to the other two centre s. Analysis of variance showed that differences in the data obtained b y the three systems were mainly due to the food composition database u sed.