NCC News Bite | January 2023

News


 

This edition contains the following articles:

Using NDSR to Assess Ultra-Processed Food Intake

 
We have heard from some of you that you are interested in identifying ultra-processed foods in your dietary data so that you can assess level of intake of foods considered ultra-processed according to the NOVA classification system.  While NDSR does not classify foods into NOVA classified categories, researchers could carry out this type of classification of foods entered into NDSR dietary recalls, records, or menus.  One way to do this with your NDSR output data files would be to identify the unique food IDs in output file 02, and then assign a classification level to each food based on resources such as the NCC Database Food Group ID and ingredient statements for restaurant and packaged foods.  If you are interested in more details on this potential approach for classifying foods in your NDSR dietary data, see the corresponding FAQ on the NCC website.

 


 
 

Resource for Knowing the Foods Unique to Specific Eating Traditions Included In NDSR

 
Researchers often ask us if we have foods commonly consumed by various groups of people when they are making their dietary assessment plan, and we have a new resource to help answer that question.  We recently added a list of “Foods Unique to Various Eating Traditions included in the NCC Food and Nutrient Database” to our website.
 
While this list is not all-encompassing, we did our best to categorize foods into some broad categories, such as Latin American and Caribbean foods, Alaska Native foods, and Eastern and Southeastern Asian foods, so you could look through and see what foods in that category we have in the database.  Note that the foods in our database are as they are prepared and consumed in the US and may vary from how they are prepared in other countries.  If you aren’t finding the foods you are looking for on this list, you can also search NDSR for specific foods, or search the foods2022.txt file located on your C Drive (if you have NDSR installed).
 
Are you finding some other foods coming up frequently in your research that aren’t in NDSR?  Please send your suggestions to NDSRhelp@umn.edu anytime and our Database Scientists will consider these requests for inclusion in a future version of NDSR.

 

 
 

New! FAQs page on our NCC Website

 
Several of you responded to our most recent Client Survey with the request that we make it easier to find the FAQs on our website.  In response, we’ve tried to do just that!  Check out the new FAQs tab at the top of the NCC website.  That tab will take you to a central Frequently Asked Questions page where you can find all of our FAQs in one place.
 

 

NCC Welcomes New Staff Member: Katelin Raimondi

 
NCC recently hired a new member to our team!  Katelin Raimondi is a Registered Dietitian and has a Master’s of Science in Dietetics and Nutrition.  She has a variety of research and training experiences that will serve her as she learns about NDSR and supports our Research Services and User Support teams.  She will also become one of our NDSR Trainers.
 

 

FAQ Highlight: FODMAPS

 

Some of you have asked if NDSR can be used to estimate intake of FODMAPs (fermentable oligo-, di-, and monosaccharides and polyols).  Below is the answer from our FAQ page.  Please contact NDSRhelp@umn.edu if you have further questions.
 
NDSR output files include intake estimates for monosaccharides (fructose, galactose, glucose, tagatose), disaccharides (lactose, maltose, sucrose) and a variety of polyols (erythritol, inositol, isomalt, lactitol, maltitol, mannitol, pinitol, sorbitol, xylitol).  Intake estimates for oligosaccharides are not available. Thus, intake of all types of FODMAPs except oligosaccharides may be estimated using data available in the output files.

 


 

New Foods

 

The following new foods are available to you at no additional charge with this edition of the NCC News Bite.  A New Foods Backup File is available for download on our website under New Food Backup Files, “January 2023”.
 
Beyond Meat Original Brat

Trader Joe’s Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels

Sara Lee Delightful Healthy Multi-Grain Bread

Skinny Pop Popcorn – Aged White Cheddar

Kirkland Cauliflower Crust Pizza – Supreme

Follow Your Heart Dairy Free Cheese – Smoked Gouda

Van’s Protein Waffles – Blueberry

Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce – No Sugar Added