NCC News | Winter 2016


View Ingredients and Selected Ingredients

NCC is excited to announce a new feature in our upcoming release of NDSR 2016. Over the years we have received many requests for this new feature, which allows the user to view the ingredients and nutrients for foods from the food tab. For example, using this new feature the ingredients in a Big Mac (ground beef, bun, cheese, pickles, onions, etc.) may be viewed along with the gram weight of each ingredient and the nutrient content for each ingredient (up to 5 nutrients of your choice may be viewed at once). The feature also includes the ability to copy and paste the ingredients and their amounts into the record, which allows for editing the food to better match what the study participant reported eating (e.g. remove bun from Big Mac ingredients if participant reported that he hadn’t eaten the bun). This feature will work for most, but not all foods (e.g. ingredients in a food like Cheerios will not be displayed).

 

We are currently in the process of rigorous testing and we look forward to providing more detail on this new feature in the summer edition of our newsletter. Until then, we hope you stay tuned and continue to send us your ideas for improvements to NDSR!

 


Database Improvements Coming in NDSR 2016

Through our client surveys we’ve learned that adding more foods to NDSR is a priority for many of you. Consequently, we made a concerted effort to identify and add high demand foods to NDSR 2016. In addition, we decided to review the laundry list of foods that require data entry rules, with an eye toward doing what we could to reduce the need for rules.
New foods you’ll find in NDSR 2016 include ciabatta bread, bruschetta, hard cider, Smucker’s Uncrustables, Cobb salad, Caprese salad, puppy chow, veggie straws, Takis, natural peanut butters, cookie butter, tapenade, seven layer taco dip, chocolate covered strawberries, Gelato, stuffed grape leaves, and much more!

 

Examples of improvements made to eliminate the need for data entry rules include adding ‘rotisserie’ and ‘slow cooked’ to relevant preparation descriptions to facilitate entry of meats cooked by these methods; and adding ‘foil wrapped portion’ as a food specific unit option for butter.

 

Additional database improvements you’ll find in NDSR 2016 include:

  • Oxalic acid and inositol values updated to integrate better analytic data.
  • Pancake syrups updated with a sugar free option added.
  • Jams, jellies and marmalades updated.
  • Food updates in USDA Standard Reference (SR) 27 completed.
  • Non-nutrient updates along with many food and nutrient updates in USDA SR 28 added.
  • Updates to the food categories of milk, meat, and vegetables from the USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS) 2011-2012.
  • Numerous food categories updated to better reflect the products available in the marketplace. Updates include:
      • The following commercial entrée brands: Chef Boyardee, Hormel, Dinty Moore, Hungry-Man, Jenny Craig, Kashi, Kid Cuisine, Michelina’s, Budget Gourmet
      • The following fast food restaurants: Arby’s, Boston Market, Burger King, Chipotle, Church’s, Domino’s, Jack-in-The-Box, Little Caesars, Panda Express, Papa John’s, Subway
      • Creamers
      • Fish Sticks
      • Nectars
      • Sodas

 


Reminder Regarding Upcoming Policy Change

It has become exceedingly difficult to provide technical support for older versions of NDSR because the program may be installed on a computer that the program was not developed or tested on, or the program is installed on a computer using an obsolete Windows operating system.

 

As a result, NCC will no longer provide technical support for versions of NDSR six or more years older than the most current version of the program. This policy will take effect beginning July 1, 2016.

  • Supported clients who request assistance on unsupported versions will be assessed a consultation fee, and there will be no guarantee that the issue(s) can be resolved.
  • Supported clients using unsupported versions of NDSR will be provided a one-time only time-unlimited password.
  • Unsupported clients may request a one-time only time-unlimited password

If you are still using an older version(s) of NDSR, you have a few more months to transition to a supported version. We are here to help you with this transition. Please contact us if you need assistance. Clients wishing to continue use of an unsupported version of NDSR should contact us to receive a time-unlimited password. All questions can be directed to our User Support team.

 


Backing Up Data

NDSR is programmed to save your data as you enter the record information. However, this process only saves it to your computer hard drive or server. If the computer or server were to crash or if the computer got stolen, all data collected will be lost. NCC highly encourages frequent backup of projects to multiple locations (e.g. external hard drive, network drive, USB flash drive, cloud storage, etc.) This ensures that your data will be retrievable if unexpected incidents occur and also for added protection for your data. Additionally, saved reports and/or printed reports, such as the Foods Report or Nutrients Per Food Report, can be used as an extra safety precaution against data loss. These reports can be used to re-enter the data that has been lost, if necessary.

 


Linking DSAM and Food

A number of clients using the Dietary Supplement Assessment Module (DSAM) have asked for advice on how to use output files to calculate nutrient intake from food and dietary supplement sources combined. Fortunately, the answer is straightforward.

 

Combined nutrient intakes may be readily calculated using data in Output File 04 (Intake Properties Totals File) and Output File 12 (DSAM Total 24-hour Supplement Intake File). File 04 contains total daily nutrient intake estimates from the 24-hour dietary recall record (e.g., total daily vitamin C intake from the 24-hour dietary recall record). File 12 includes total daily nutrient intake estimates from the DSAM interview (e.g., total daily vitamin C intake from the 24-hour dietary supplement recall interview).

 

By summing nutrient intake estimates from File 04 and File 12, Total daily intake of nutrients from food and supplement sources may be calculated (e.g., vitamin C intake from 24-hour dietary recall record + vitamin C intake from 24-hour dietary supplement recall interview = total vitamin C intake from all sources combined). A listing of variable names and file locations (column numbers) for nutrients with common units in File 04 and File 12 can be found here to assist in this process.

 

This document and also a detailed description of the calculation process, including data limitations to consider, are both located on our website under FAQs about NDSR “How Do I Calculate Nutrient Intake from Food and Dietary Supplement Sources?”.

 


Printing NDSR Reports Double-sided

To print double-sided in NDSR, reset your printer setup by selecting Printer Setup from the File menu, and then selecting the Setup Button. The option of Printing on Both Sides is available under the Finishing tab. You can also modify how the pages are flipped and where the binding is if necessary.

 


New Foods

The following foods are included in the NCC News Winter 2016 New Foods Backup File, available for download on our website under New Food Backup Files, “Winter 2016.”

  • Yoplait Greek Whips yogurt – Blueberry
  • Jimmy Dean Delights turkey sausage, egg white & cheese on English muffin breakfast sandwich
  • Trader Joe’s dark chocolate star cookies
  • Premier Protein chocolate shake
  • Cheerios Protein Cinnamon Almond
  • Starbuck’s cranberry orange scone
  • General Mills Chocolate Toast Crunch Cereal
  • Oscar Mayer Lunchables – pepperoni & mozzarella
  • Zone Perfect dark chocolate almond bar

If you have any questions about New Foods, contact the User Support Team.