The food composition database for an italian food frequency questionnaire

To interpret food consumption data from large epidemiological studies, extended, up-to-date, and country-specific food composition tables are needed. A food composition database was created for the analysis of dietary intake information from a large case-control study starting from a large, unpublished database developed by the National Nutrition Institute of Rome, Italy. The composition of 252 food items in terms of 29 nutrients was checked according to well-defined methods, and values for nutrients that were not included in that database were found from other sources. This is a first attempt to create a well-documented, computerized food composition database for use in an epidemiological study in Italy: this effort will be extended to a larger set of food items in a collaborative project involving several researchers and institutions in Italy.