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Irish FCDB now available: |
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| Food composition databases provide detailed information on the levels of constituents in foods, including energy, carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals. Such data are widely used by researchers, health professionals, health educators, policy makers and agriculturalists. To support nutrition research and policy making within Ireland, composition data are frequently borrowed from sources such as the UK McCance & Widdowson’s The Composition of Foods. However, nutrition researchers will now be able to supplement this borrowed data with specific data from the Irish market. | |
| Since 1997, a number of large-scale dietary intake surveys have been conducted throughout Ireland. Over the course of these surveys, researchers collected information on common recipes followed in Irish households, commonly consumed nutritional supplements, and popular packaged food products. Composition data on these foods have been collected and compiled by researchers at The Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University College Cork, into an accessible food composition database. Composition data for supplements and packaged products were collected from food labels or manufacturers, while the composition of recipes was calculated from ingredients using borrowed data or data included in the Irish database. Approximately 1000 foods are currently included - a figure what will expand as new data are collected - and 41 constituents are described, including 12 vitamins and 12 minerals. The database is available online at: http://www.ucc.ie/en/ifcdb. | |
| The Irish database has been compiled in conjunction with EuroFIR (European Food Information Resource Network), a European-wide network that aims to standardise and link food composition databases throughout Europe. Ultimately, the Irish food composition database will be deployed online alongside databases from 26 other European countries, allowing users to compare and borrow table values from different countries, and providing a unique, comprehensive resource for food composition data throughout Europe.
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