This edition contains the following articles:

• NCC Forum Highlights
• Did you know? Featuring: NDSR View and Paste Ingredients Function
• NCC Associate Director Dr. Abby Johnson at Nutrition 2024
• NCC Presentations from the National Nutrient Databank Conference

NCC Forum Highlights

Last month, NCC launched a Nutrition Coordinating Center Forum on LinkedIn Groups to provide a place for NDSR Users and NCC Food and Nutrient Database clients/users to ask each other questions and share resources.  This is meant to facilitate user-to-user interaction. Technical help and licensing should continue to be sent to NDSRhelp@umn.edu.

In case you missed it, other NDSR users would love your input on these topics:

• What are other researchers offering as financial incentives to participants for completing 24-hr dietary recalls?
• How do you decide whether to build assembled foods or pick a database food for foods reported by individual participants?
• When we send food homogenates of a full day’s menu to analytical labs such as Eurofins or Medallion, what analyses would yield the most appropriate results to compare with our NDSR calculated values?

Want to make sure you get notifications about new posts in the forum?  Follow these steps:

1. On your Personal LinkedIn Page, click “Notifications” on the top menu bar.
2. Select “View Settings” under Manage Your Notifications.
3. Under Notifications you receive, click “Groups”.
4. Select “Groups Updates”.
5. Set Email sent on your primary email to ON.

Did You Know? Featuring: NDSR View and Paste Ingredients Function

Many of our users are familiar with the View Ingredients function that allows you to view gram amounts and up to five nutrients for each ingredient in many multi-ingredient foods in the database.  What you may not know is that you can copy the ingredients list and paste the ingredients with amounts into an assembled food, and then edit ingredients and/or amounts to better match the food reported by a participant.  For example, if a participant had a Big Mac but scraped off the sauce and the cheese, you could use the Paste Ingredients function to paste the ingredients of the Big Mac into an Assembled Food, and then delete the sauce and the cheese.

Please note that the Paste Ingredients function should be used with discretion, in a way that best aligns with your particular study.  Removing high fat/energy ingredients such as sauce and cheese from a Big Mac may be important.  Removing a tiny amount of onions from the Big Mac may or may not be important.  Consider your research questions and the time burden before using this feature liberally.

Want more information about how to use the View and Paste Ingredient functions?  See User Manual Chapter 4 and three short tutorial videos on line.

NCC Associate Director Dr. Abby Johnson at Nutrition 2024

NCC Associate Director Dr. Abby Johnson will be at the American Society for Nutrition’s annual Nutrition 2024 conference in Chicago, IL. If you are planning to attend, consider going to her presentation “Development of a Method to Identify the MyPlate Food Groups for Plant-Based Alternative Products” on Sunday, June 30^th during the 2:30pm session in the Nutrition Translation and Food Science Oral Session 15.

NCC Presentations from the National Nutrient Databank Conference

NCC Director Dr. Lisa Harnack and Database Scientist Jenny Stevenson enjoyed seeing many NDSR Users at the National Nutrient Databank Conference last month in Ottawa, Canada. Summaries of the two oral presentations delivered by Dr. Lisa Harnack—”Plant-based Milk Alternative Products are Highly Heterogeneous in Nutrient Composition” and “Snack and Meal Replacement Bars Available in the U.S. Marketplace are Heterogeneous in Macronutrient Content” are shown below.

Plant-Based Milk Alternative Products are Highly Heterogeneous in Nutrient Composition

Abigail Johnson, PhD, RD, Jennifer Stevenson, Janet Pettit, Bhaskarani Jasthi, PhD, RD, LD, Lisa Harnack, DrPH, RD. University of Minnesota Nutrition Coordinating Center

Background: The variability of nutrients in plant-based milk alternative (PBMA) products is not well documented, leaving gaps in understanding how to assess nutrient intake from PBMA in nutrition research and surveillance.

Methods: In 2022 University of Minnesota Nutrition Coordinating Center (NCC) database scientists identified leading brands of PBMA products available in the U.S. market. A formulation was created for each product from which composition values for the 175 nutrient, nutrient ratios and other food components were calculated. An internally developed program was used to create the formulations, with product ingredient and nutrition facts panel information key to deriving formulations. We compared nutrient variability within and across plant-base types for calcium, vitamin D, and vitamin A as % Daily Values (%DV) per serving. We limited our analysis to products (total n=196) made with almond (n = 61), cashew (n = 3), coconut (n = 21), hemp (n = 10), oat (n = 51), pea (n = 9), rice (n = 10), or soy (n = 31).

Results: We identified high nutrient variability between and within categories of PBMAs. Nutrient ranges were wide. For calcium, oat milks had the widest range (0 to 45%DV). For vitamin D, soy milks had the widest range (0 to 30%DV). For vitamin A, both almond and soy milks ranged from 0 to 40%DV. Nutrients were not normally distributed within each plant base category, instead bimodal and trimodal distributions were observed.

Significance: The source of nutrient variability between and within PBMA categories may be due to differences in fortification, with distribution modes occurring at common nutrient reporting thresholds (e.g., 10% and 20% DV). For researchers aiming to collect dietary intake information from populations consuming PBMA, this high variability underscores the need to record specific brand and plant-base information.

Snack and Meal Replacement Bars Available in the U.S. Marketplace are Heterogeneous in Macronutrient

Lisa Harnack, DrPH, RD, Abigail Johnson, PhD, RD, Janet Pettit, Jennifer Stevenson, Kristine Schmitz, Bhaskarani Jasthi, PhD, RD, LD. University of Minnesota Nutrition Coordinating Center

Objective: Evaluate the macronutrient content variability of snack and meal replacement bars for the purpose of determining whether a representative macronutrient profile across this product category may be acceptable in developing food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) and their accompanying food and nutrient databases.

Materials and Methods: The 2022 version of the University of Minnesota Nutrition Coordinating Center Food and Nutrient Database was used to describe the macronutrient content of 588 snack and meal replacement bars sold by 33 leading brands in the U.S. The median, minimum, maximum, and interquartile range (IQR) values per bar were calculated across all products and by product type.

Results: Energy and macronutrient content varied widely across all products. For example, the added sugar content per bar ranged from 0-31 g with a median value of 6 g and IQR of 8 g. Macronutrient content differed between products described as ‘protein/meat’ or ‘meal replacement’ in comparison to those described as ‘child’/kid’ (n=45) or lacking a specific descriptor. For example, the median protein content per bar was 13 g for protein/meat and meal replacement bars versus 2 g and 4 g for child/kid bars and those lacking a specific descriptor. Macronutrient content varied substantially within these product categories as well. For example, protein/meat bars had variable protein (median 13 g; IQR 10 g), saturated fat (median 3 g DV; IQR 3 g) and added sugar (median 4 g; IQR 7) content.

Significance: When developing a FFQ and accompanying food and nutrient database for use with a population where snack or meal replacement bar consumption is common, consideration should be given to asking for the specific brand of snack or meal replacement bar typically eaten. Alternatively, the type of bar (protein, meal replacement, or other type) could be queried with representative nutrient values included in the FFQ database.

This edition contains the following articles:

• NEW- Website Pages to Orient You and Your Analyst to the Content of NDSR Output Files
• Coming in NDSR 2024: The Ability to Include Customized Data Fields at the Meal and Food Levels!
• Registration for NNDC Now Open
• NCC Celebrates Our 50th Anniversary
• New Foods

NEW- Website Pages to Orient You and Your Analyst to the Content of NDSR Output Files

We know that the wealth of data available in the many NDSR output files may appear daunting or confusing at first. Chapter 8 of the NDSR User Manual provides an overview of NDSR output and File Specifications. However, those who haven’t analyzed dietary data before may need more help in getting started. To meet this need, we have added a new section to our website to provide an orientation to the content of the NDSR output files.  In addition to providing an easy-to-understand description of the content of output files, helpful tips are included along with answers to many common questions about data in the output files. We hope you find this useful, and we welcome ideas for improving this new website content.

Coming in NDSR 2024: The Ability to Include Customized Data Fields at The Meal and Food Levels!

For many years NDSR clients have asked us for a feature that would allow for the inclusion of customized data fields at the meal- and food- levels so that aspects of the meal and food not captured by the standard NDSR prompts may be coded. Examples of meal-level information that clients have been interested in documenting include who served the meal to the child, whether the meal was from a certain fast food restaurant, eating companions present at the meal, and screen use during the meal. Examples of food-level information of interest to clients have included documenting food attributes (organic, packaging type), food source, and study-specific food groups.

How will this new feature work? In recalls, records, and record-assisted recall projects, you can use up to three customizable fields at the Meal level, which will appear on the Meal Information window, and up to ten customizable fields at the Food level, which will appear on a new tab within the Food Detail window.   You will be able to customize a descriptor for each field and import a list of response options that will then populate a dropdown menu.

This feature is still in the development and testing stages, so the final design may vary, but below is a screen shot of how a customizable field could appear at the meal level.

Registration for the National Nutrient Databank Conference is Now Open!

Registration is now open for the 43^rd National Nutrient Databank Conference, which is being held in Ottawa, Canada on May 21-23, 2024.  The Early Bird registration discount ends on March 16^th.   NCC Director Dr. Lisa Harnack, and Database Scientist Jenny Stevenson will be there representing NCC and would welcome the opportunity to talk with you while you are there.

NCC Celebrates 50 Years of Supporting Nutrition Research

It’s NCC’s 50th Anniversary! We are making plans to celebrate throughout the year and one of our goals is to better document our history.  We are seeking your stories about NCC and how NDSR has served you.  If you have something to share, please email NDSRhelp@umn.edu.

New Foods

The following new foods are available 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, “February 2024”.

• Beyond Meat Plant Based Jerky
• Bobo’s Oat Bar – Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip
• Fiber One Bar – Strawberry Cheesecake
• La Banderita Carb Counter Low Carb Tortilla
• Orgain 30g Protein Shake – Chocolate Fudge
• Pediasure 1.5
• Quest Cheddar Blast Cheese Crackers
• Violife Vegan Cheese – Just Like Cheddar Slices

This edition contains the following articles:

• Free NARN Webinar: Tips for Quality Assurance and Data Management of 24-hr Recalls with NDSR
• Per Your Request: Air Frying
• Tips for Using Food Search
• Why Aren’t the Foods I Submit as New Food Requests Included in the Next Version of NDSR?
• Please Review Your Annual Support Quotes

Free NARN Webinar: Tips for Quality Assurance and Data Management of 24-hr Recalls with NDSR

Julia Lorenzana Peasley, NCC Director of Operations, will be presenting the webinar “Tips for Quality Assurance and Data Management of 24-hr Recalls with NDSR” for the National Association for Research Nutrition (NARN) on Tuesday, January 16^th at 2pm Central Time.  Typically NARN webinars are for members only, but they are opening this webinar up as a special one-time opportunity for non-members to attend for free.  Register now on the NARN website if you would like to attend.  Not a member of NARN? Visit the website to learn more.  They provide valuable resources, mentoring, and education to those working in nutrition research, and the annual membership fee is very affordable.

Per Your Request: Air Frying

Many of you who responded to the August Client Survey requested that we add air frying as a preparation method to our database.  In NDSR 2024, it will be included as a food preparation description along with baked or microwaved.  In the meantime, you can select ‘baked’ in NDSR 2023 and previous versions if a participant reports something that was air fried.

Tips for Using Food Search

Based on some feedback we received in the August Client Survey, we wanted to share some tips that we hope will help you locate foods in the NCC Food and Nutrient Database when using Food Search in NDSR:

• Note that some foods from unique eating traditions may have different spellings, and searching on one spelling may not result in finding the food if we have it spelled differently in our database.  You could search the internet to look up alternate spellings for the food and try searching for the other spellings, or search on just part of the food name. For example, search for ‘Shaah’ if you are unsure whether Shaah bigays is one word or two.  We also recommend reviewing our Foods Unique to Various Eating Traditions document which highlights some of the foods in different categories.
• For ingredient type foods, such as dry mixes or vanilla extract, try searching for the ingredient section of the hierarchy by typing ‘ingr’ into the search, and then look for your ingredient from there.
• While you don’t need to memorize our hierarchy, understanding which food categories include brand name items and which don’t may help alleviate some frustration.  You can review this info in Appendix 5 of the NDSR Manual.  For example, we have many brand name cereals, but if you can’t find an exact brand name match, you can select from the generic options.  On the other hand, we do not have loaf sandwich bread in the database by brand name.  For sandwich bread, you will need to select from the generics—you will not find anything by searching “brownberry” or “wonder bread”. 
• Several food categories now have a “store brand” option that may be a good match if we don’t have the specific brand you are looking for.

Why Aren’t the Foods I Submit as New Food Requests Included in the Next Version of NDSR?

Some of you have asked why the items you send in as new foods requests aren’t always part of the next version of NDSR.  This is primarily due to the process we use for updating and maintaining the NCC Food and Nutrient Database.  Our database scientists have methodic and organized ways of reviewing food categories and updating them based on the range of products currently available.  Most of our updates are done across a specific product line or food category, and we have found it is best for us to focus our limited resources in this systematic way instead of adding new food requests into our database in a more piecemeal way.  For example, while we understand why certain new food request are made, it may not make sense to include a brand name item into our database if that is a category of foods that is maintained as generics only. 

The back up file you receive with your new food resolutions can be restored into future versions of NDSR for your continued use, but we do recommend that if you restore it for use in a newer version that you run a nutrient totals report and compare that to the current nutrient information for the product, as the update process in NDSR could cause changes in the nutrient totals for the food.  In most cases the changes would be small, but in the case that they are more significant or pertain to a nutrient of high interest for your study, it is best to double check before starting to select them in a record.  

Please Review Your NDSR Quotes

When you are approaching the anniversary of your NDSR support date, you will receive an email from NCC with a price quote for the next year of support.  We would greatly appreciate it if you would review the quote and reply within two weeks if you need us to make a change to the number of copies of NDSR you would like supported, or if the invoice should be sent to someone else.  If you wait to notify us of those types of change until you receive the actual invoice, it creates a bit of a headache for several parties. Thank you.

This edition contains the following articles:

• NDSR 2023 is Now Available!
• Should I upgrade to NDSR 2023 During a Study?
• Backup Files Are Gold
• Reminder: Please Complete Our Client Survey
• NCC Creates a Five Year Strategic Plan

NDSR 2023 is now available!

We want to make sure that everyone knows that NDSR 2023 is now available!  If your annual support for licensing our NDSR software is current, the primary account holder at your institution should have received an email with a link to download the newest version of NDSR.  If you haven’t already, we highly recommend upgrading to NDSR 2023, as we have made program improvements and added new foods. One of the highlights is the expansion of plant-based milk alternative products in our database.  Users will also notice that we changed the Header Tab label from ‘Gender’ to ‘Sex’, as that better reflects the choice options of ‘Male’ and ‘Female’, which informs the Recommended Dietary Allowances/Adequate Intake Report that can be generated.

For tips on upgrading, see our FAQ page and click on ‘Upgrading’.  If you did not receive an email with an upgrade link, contact NDSRHelp@umn.edu.

If you are not a currently supported client and want access to NDSR 2023, email NDSRHelp@umn.edu for pricing and other details on reinstating support. 

As a note for our clients who license the NCC database files, your eligibility for 2023 database files is based on your specific licensing agreement, and you can also reach out to NDSRhelp@umn.edu with questions. 

Should I Upgrade to NDSR 2023 During a Study?

Upgrading to the latest version of NDSR is generally a good idea for ongoing studies.  This is especially true for long-term studies because the food and nutrient information in older versions of NDSR becomes less market-reflective with each passing year.  You can see Appendix 23 in the User Manual for a list of pros and cons to consider in regards to your particular study.  If you decide to upgrade to NDSR 2023, you may wonder if you should restore data collected in an older version to the current version of NDSR. 

Updating to the current version of NDSR and restoring your older data in the current version is generally recommended for the following two reasons: 

1. When you restore data collected in an older version of NDSR you receive nutrient values for any new nutrient fields added in subsequent NDSR releases.  For example, in NDSR 2020 PUFA 18:2 n-6 (linoleic acid [LA]),PUFA 18:3 n-6 (gamma-linolenic acid [GLA]), and PUFA 20:4 n-6 (arachidonic acid [AA]) were added to the database.  Hence, if you restore data entered using an earlier version of NDSR these nutrient fields would now be available for your data.
2. NCC continually updates the database to incorporate better and more complete analytic data that becomes available for foods.  Consequently, when you restore older data in the latest version of NDSR the accuracy of your data may in turn improve.

One hesitation clients express with restoring data created in previous versions of NDSR is that data integrity may be compromised due to product reformulations that occur and are reflected in updated versions of NDSR.  For example, if a food product has recently been reformulated to be lower in sodium one wants this updated sodium content information used for dietary recalls and food records collected subsequent to the reformulation but not prior to it (e.g. one would not want the lower sodium value for the product used for dietary recalls collected prior to the reformulation).  Fortunately, thanks to the time-related way in which the database is maintained, data collected in the past and restored in the current version of NDSR are recalculated based on food product formulations in the NDSR version used originally for data collection/entry. 

One consideration prior to restoring data into a current version of NDSR is that edits to dietary data can only be made in the version of NDSR in which the data was entered.  Once the data is restored into a current version of NDSR edits can no longer be made to data that was created on a previous version.  It is best practice to confirm that all edits are completed and the data set is finalized prior to restoring into a current version of NDSR. 

For further information and instructions on restoring data see Chapter 9 and Appendix 23 of the NDSR User Manual.  If you have further questions please contact User Support by emailing ndsrhelp@umn.edu.

Backup Files Are Gold!

Reminder: please remember to backup your NDSR projects to an additional storage medium outside of your local drive. Although NDSR protects data by saving record information to your hard drive or server as it is entered, NCC does not have access to that data and cannot retrieve your data in the event of a hard drive crash.  Therefore, it is very important to create a NDSR backup and data management plan. Frequent backup of projects to multiple locations (e.g., hard drive, network drive, flash drive, cloud storage, etc.) is recommended. Additionally, reports can be saved or printed immediately following data entry to protect against information loss. More information on backing up your data is available on the NCC website.

Reminder: Please Complete Our Client Survey

We are conducting a Client Survey and would love to hear from you.  If you haven’t already, please take our brief survey.  To those of you who have already responded, thank you very much!

NCC Creates Five Year Strategic Plan

Starting last fall NCC convened an expert advisory panel and used design thinking to develop a five-year strategic plan.  Through a series of one-on-one meetings with advisory panel members and group discussions, the NCC Director Lisa Harnack and Associate Director Abby Johnson developed several value propositions.  These were discussed with NCC staff members and a five-year plan was developed by the NCC Executive Committee.  We are excited to work on our initiatives to continue to serve our clients and work towards our mission of supporting nutrition research.

This edition contains the following articles:

• Coming Soon – NDSR 2023!
• Publication:  Adapting a US dietary analysis software and nutrient database for use in Brazil
• NCC Presenting at ASN
• New Foods

Coming Soon – NDSR 2023!

We are looking forward to releasing NDSR 2023 this summer! Release is currently scheduled for July 26^th.  Clients who are current with their annual support for NDSR software licensing will receive an email with a link to download the new program, sent to the primary account holder. 

In addition to important behind-the-scenes changes to the NDSR software that keep the program functioning well, our database scientists have made many updates to our food and nutrient database that we think you will be excited about.  Some highlights include a major update and expansion of plant-based milk alternative products (more than 230 products from 23 different manufacturers); addition of more foods unique to Korean eating traditions; and updates to McDonald’s, Sonic, Jack-in-the-Box, and Long John Silver’s.  We also made a program change to update the Header field on intake records. The field ‘Gender’ was changed to ‘Sex’ in order to better describe the response options of ‘male’ and ‘female’ needed to inform the Recommend Dietary Allowances/Adequate Intake Report.  See more details about NDSR 2023 software and database updates in our What’s New in NDSR 2023 release letter. 

Not sure if you are up to date with your annual support?  Do you want to reinstate support to get NDSR 2023?  Email NDSRhelp@umn.edu!

Publication: Adapting a US dietary analysis software and nutrient database for use in Brazil

We recently published a paper in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis about our work adapting NDSR for use in the entry and analysis of 24-hour dietary recalls collected to assess the food and nutrient intake of children in Brazil.  The article is available online for free access through the end of June.  We hope that it will help others develop procedures for adapting NDSR for use outside of the US.

NCC Presenting at ASN

Our Faculty Director Lisa Harnack, DrPH, RD, MPH and Associate Director Abigail Johnson, PhD, RD  will be presenting at the American Society for Nutrition’s annual flagship meeting held from July 22-25, 2023 in Boston, MA. 

Dr. Harnack will be presenting a poster titled “Proportions of packaged foods in various food categories in the US marketplace that met the proposed updated FDA criteria for “healthy” labeling” on July 23^rd.  It will be part of the Policies and Regulations (Poster Session). Posters are on display 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., and Lisa will be standing by her poster from 11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m.

Dr. Johnson will be giving an oral presentation titled “Assessing calcium, vitamin D, and protein content of plant-based milk alternatives available in the U.S.” on July 24^th at 8:00 a.m. during the.  “Formulating for the Future: Food Science Approaches to Improving Human Nutrition (Oral 16)” session. 

Also, findings from a dietary assessment methods study co-led by Lisa Harnack (“Pilot evaluation of whether an interviewer administered dietary recall method augmented with a photo-based mobile food record improves reporting of food intake”) will be presented orally by Samira Deshpande at the Methodological Approaches in Nutritional Epidemiology (Oral 9) session held July 23 from 2:00-3:30 p.m.

We enjoy the opportunity to talk with our clients, so if you will be attending the ASN conference and would like to meet with them, please email either Dr. Harnack or Dr. Johnson to arrange a time.

New Foods

The following new foods are available 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, “June 2023”.

• Body Armor Lyte Sports Drink – Peach Mango
• Bubba Original Turkey Burger
• Go Macro Protein Bar – Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip
• Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup
• Ratio Keto Friendly Yogurt – Vanilla
• Ripple Protein Shake – Chocolate
• Siete Almond Flour Tortilla
• Taylor Farms Chopped Salad Kit – Caesar

 This edition contains the following articles:

• In Memory of Mary Austin
• What method of measuring whole grains does NDSR use?
• Price Increases Coming July 1
• NDSR Training available May 15-16

In Memory of Mary Austin

It is with great sadness that we share the news that our dear colleague, Mary Austin, passed away on April 3, 2023.  She worked at the Nutrition Coordinating Center for over 33 years and was an integral part of our team, managing client data for NCC Research Services and keeping things running smoothly for our NDSR Trainings.  Mary also contributed to the larger University community through decades of union service and serving as President of AFSCME Local 3937: University of Minnesota Technical Employee Unit since 2015.  We are missing her, trying to adjust to her absence, and grateful for everything she contributed over the years. 

What method of measuring whole grains does NDSR use?

A recent article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by Du et al compared the use of several existing definitions of whole grains, and suggested that there is a need for a standard definition to help researchers, consumers, and food companies. An editorial corresponding to that article, written by Jacobs and Pereira, suggests that looking at the actual amount of whole grain in the food would be a valuable method for consistency. 

The article and accompanying editorial may have you wondering what measurement method NDSR uses. NDSR uses two methods, which means there are multiple measures of whole grains available in NDSR output files.  

One measure–‘Whole Grains (ounce equivalents)’ in output files 01-06–is based on the USDA Food Patterns Equivalents Database (FPED) approach in which the amounts of both whole and refined grains in a food product are taken into account so that products containing a combination of these ingredients contribute to ounce equivalents of each type of grain. For example, a 1 ounce slice of multigrain bread containing equal parts of whole and refined grain ingredients would be counted as providing 0.5 whole grain ounce equivalents and 0.5 refined grain ounce equivalents.

The other method of measuring whole grains in NDSR, which is part of the NCC Food Group Serving Count System (output files 07-11), uses a classification system in which grain products are classified into three categories—‘whole grain’, ‘some whole grain’, and ‘refined grain’. The classification of a grain product into one of these categories is based on the types of grain ingredients and the position of these ingredients on the product label.  If a whole grain ingredient is the first ingredient on the food label, the food is categorized as a ‘whole grain’.  If a whole grain ingredient appears anywhere else on the label, the food is categorized as a ‘some whole grain’. If there are no whole grain ingredients in the product it is classified as ‘refined grain’.

More information about these whole grain classification methods and variables may be found in Appendix 10 of the NDSR User Manual (see pages A10.5-A10.13 and A10.34-A10.36).

Price Increases Coming July 2023

Effective July 1, 2023, licensing and annual support fees will increase by 2% in order to keep pace, in part, with current inflationary increases in expenses. The new pricing is as follows:

NDSR License – Initial Copy: $6,480 (increase of $130)

NDSR License – Additional Copy: $4,200 (increase of $80)

Annual Support – Initial Copy: $4,315 (increase of $85)

Annual Support – Additional Copy: $685 (increase of $15)

Note that a reinstatement fee applies for returning clients who have not maintained annual support.

Contact the NCC User Support team for any additional questions.         

NDSR Training available May 15-16

We have added another NDSR Training workshop to our schedule for the spring due to popular demand.  The training will be held via Zoom on Monday and Tuesday, May 15^th and 16^th from 9am-5pm Central Time.  Registration will close on Wednesday, May 3^rd, so register soon if you wish to attend.  Registration is also open for training on June 12 & 13 and August 14 & 15.

This edition contains the following articles:

• Available for Licensing: Nutrients Per Common Portion Size File
• Announcing: NCC Agreement with Viocare for ProNutra Users
• Food and Nutrient Database Updates Coming in NDSR 2023
• Upcoming NDSR Training Dates

Available for Licensing: Nutrients Per Common Portion Size File

If you are looking for an easy way to identify foods that are high or low in a nutrient or meet specific nutrition criteria, you may be interested in licensing the Nutrients Per Common Portion Size File available from NCC.  This Excel file provides the nutrient content per common portion for foods in the NCC Food and Nutrient Database. Using the file, foods may be rapidly sorted by nutrient content per common portion (e.g. sort foods from high to low for vitamin K content). The file includes food category information so that sorting may be carried out within a food category (e.g. sort ready-to-eat cereals by added sugars content).

Examples of ways this file might be useful include:

• Identifying foods suitable for recommending to patients being counseled on a specific type of diet
• Developing food recommendation lists for patient education materials
• Identifying foods to include in feeding study menus to meet nutrient targets
• Identifying foods that meet nutrient criteria established for public health interventions (e.g. foods that meet stocking criteria for food shelves or mobile markets).

To learn more or initiate the licensing process, email NDSRhelp@umn.edu.

Announcing: NCC Agreement with Viocare for ProNutra Users

NCC now has an agreement with Viocare so that ProNutra users can license the NCC Food and Nutrient Database as an add-on to the feeding study software.  This add-on requires a license agreement with, and subscription fee paid to, Viocare.  A portion of the annual subscription fee covers the fee Viocare pays to NCC for use of the NCC Database as a ProNutra add-on.  Funds NCC receives from Viocare support our ongoing work maintaining and expanding the NCC Food and Nutrient Database.  If you are a supported NDSR client (annual support payments are up to date) who is licensing ProNutra, you will be offered a reduced price for the subscription to the NCC Database.  Licensing this subscription is through Viocare, so please contact them with your questions.  Note that ProNutra with the subscription to the NCC Food and Nutrient Database does not include NDSR software. 

Food and Nutrient Database Updates Coming in NDSR 2023

We are excited to share that NDSR 2023 will include a plethora of food and nutrient database updates. Here we highlight some of the updates.

Plant-based milk alternatives updated and expanded

As you have likely noticed, the number and variety of plant-based milk alternatives in the marketplace have exploded in recent years. Consequently, we prioritized updating this food category. As part of the update, we are expanding the types of plant-based milk alternatives included in the database to include products that contain soy, oat, almond, cashew, coconut, flax, hazelnut, hemp, pistachio, rice, walnut, and plant blends. We are also adding brands because we found that the nutrient content varies greatly across brands. Most notably, there are differences in fortification practices with regard to calcium and vitamin D (some products are fortified with both, some with just one, and some with neither).  

When our work updating plant-based milk alternatives is complete, we anticipate having more than 200 products produced by 23 manufacturers included in NDSR 2023.

More Korean foods added

As part of our ongoing initiative to include foods unique to an array of eating traditions, we are expanding Korean foods in the database. Foods being added include the following:

• Kimchi pancakes
• Tteok or mochi (Korean or Japanese rice cake)
• Korean gochujang vinaigrette
• Korean style dressing
• Bibimbap (Korean rice with meat and vegetables)
• Bulgogi (Korean BBQ beef)
• Dukboki or Tteokbokki (Korean rice cake with meat and vegetables)
• Samgyeopsal (Korean grilled pork belly)
• Gochujang sauce (Korean chili paste)
• Injeolmi (Korean sweet rice cake)
• Kimchi soup

As a reminder–keep your NDSR support current so that you are eligible to receive the NDSR 2023 version when it is released! Even if you are mid-study, we generally recommend upgrading to the latest version of NDSR because new versions have database improvements such as those described in this article. 

If you licensed the NCC Food and Nutrient Database files and pay to receive updated data files annually, you will receive the updates described above in the 2023 data files. If you do not pay to receive updated data files but would like to, contact NDSRhelp@umn.edu.  

Stay tuned for more information on NDSR 2023 in coming months. 

Upcoming NDSR Training Dates

NCC offers two-day NDSR training workshops via zoom several times throughout the year.  Attendees learn how to navigate the software, search the database, and conduct a 24-hour dietary recall.   The next two workshops will be held April 24-25 and June 12-13.  Register online at least two weeks prior to the workshop to reserve a space.  Registration may close early if spaces are filled.