ND's Frequently Asked Questions
Below are answers to the questions we're most frequently asked...
| Q: | What makes NutritionData different than other nutritional websites? |
| A: | ND prides itself in its ability to deliver food composition data in the most useable format, with the fewest clicks and keystrokes. ND provides this data in multiple forms – everything from the raw numbers to its own clearly worded analysis – to meet the needs of both individual consumers and food industry professionals alike. In summary, ND does three things better than anyone else:
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| Q: | What does it cost to join NutritionData? |
| A: | There are no fees to use any part of the NutritionData website! |
| Q: | How accurate is your food composition data? |
| A: | ND obtains food composition data from a variety of published and unpublished sources, with the largest provider of data being the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). While ND cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, we do our best to check or verify all data entries. For your reference, we also identify the data source for each individual food in the Footnotes section of every ND Analysis. |
| Q: | In your analysis, why are there tildes (~) in place of some nutrient values? |
| A: | As mentioned in the analysis Footnotes, this mark indicates a value that is missing or incomplete. We mark it this way to differentiate it from zero. In other words, the food may contain some amount of that nutrient; however, the data provider either did not measure it or did not provide that data to ND. |
| Q: | What is the Caloric Ratio Pyramid that appears in your analysis? |
| A: | The Caloric Ratio Pyramid is a symbol that was developed by ND to graphically communicate information about the amount of carbohydrates, fats, and protein contained in a food. This special symbol is part of the nutritional summary that appears at the top of each nutritional analysis page. For a detailed explanation of how to interpret the Caloric Ratio Pyramid, please see ND's Analysis Help page. |
| Q: | Why doesn't your analysis report levels of trans fats? |
| A: | It does! You'll find a line for "Total trans fats" near the bottom of the "Fats and Fatty Acids" table in the "Nutrients per Serving" section of our analysis. However, we don't yet have trans fat data for most foods in our system. Our data is provided by the USDA, restaurants, and food manufacturers, and they are just starting to measure this nutrient. (The new labeling standard established by the FDA gives food providers until January 2006 to make trans fat data publicly available.) |
| Q: | What are the differences between fatty acids, and which ones are omega 3's? |
| A: | The basic format used for describing the individual fatty acids is that the number before the colon indicates the number of carbon atoms in the fatty acid molecule, and the number after the colon indicates the number of double bonds. Omega-3 and omega-6 isomers are denoted by n-3 and n-6. For more information, including a table that lists common names for many of the fatty acids, please see ND's Fatty Acids page. |
| Q: | Why isn't my favorite fast food restaurant on your restaurant list? |
| A: | Not all restaurants are willing to provide nutritional data on their foods, and, in some cases, the data that's currently available is not complete enough to meet ND's standards. Please be patient, though. We are continuously evaluating new additions to our database. More restaurants will be added in the future. |
| Q: | How did you choose the 50 Most Popular Foods? |
| A: | We didn’t! ND’s 50 Most Popular Foods are the result of actual searches performed by you and other visitors to this site. This search popularity data is updated frequently. |
| Q: | When I’m searching for a food, what if I don’t know how to spell the food’s name? |
| A: | If you can spell a portion of the name, then enter that, since ND’s search engine will search partial words. ND’s search engine will also correct for many common misspellings. For more information, please see ND's Search Tips. |
| Q: | What if the food I’m looking for isn’t in your database? |
| A: | First, try searching for a more generic form of the food. If that still doesn't yield any results, but you know the main ingredients that the food is made of, you can "build" it using ND’s Pantry. For details on how to do this, please see ND's Pantry Help page. |
| As another alternative, if you have the food's nutrition facts label, you can enter the nutrient data yourself using ND's Custom Entry Tool. This tool allows you to enter all of the most common nutrients, and is a great way to examine specialty foods that don't appear in our database. |
| Q: | Can I recommend new foods for you to add to your database? |
| A: | ND currently only accept data submissions from food manufacturers and restaurant chains, but we do appreciate your feedback. Please send your suggestions to us via the email address on ND's About page. |
| Q: | How will I know when you update your database? |
| A: | ND emails a newsletter to each of its registered users whenever a major change is made to this site. To register for this newsletter, please fill in the simple registration form in the lower left corner of ND's Home page. You may also view prior issues of ND's newsletter in the Newsletter Archive. |
| Q: | What's the best way for me to compare two different foods? |
| A: | We recommend that you compare their Nutrient Densities (i.e. the nutrient levels in a fixed caloric portion of each food). In general, higher Nutrient Densities are better, but look for lower values on the nutrients that most Americans overconsume: saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium. |
| Nutrient Density is shown in a chart on each food's Analysis page. ND's Pantry also includes a special tool for generating Nutrient Density Comparison reports, that shows side-by-side values for multiple foods. For details, please see ND's Pantry Help page. |
| Q: | I'm a meat lover, but my diet is too high in saturated fat. How do I find better alternatives? |
| A: | Try using ND's Nutrient Search Tool. First select the category of food that you're interested in (e.g. Beef Products), then select lowest in Saturated Fat. This will display a list of foods that may be better choices than the ones you're currently consuming. You may also want to view a list of the foods highest in Saturated Fat to learn which foods to avoid. This, of course, is an iterative process that will slowly but surely sharpen your nutritional knowledge. |
| Q: | Is there a way to use ND to analyze my total daily intake? |
| A: | Yes, ND's Pantry makes this easy to do. Please see our discussion of this topic on ND's Pantry Help page. |
| Q: | How many total foods can I add to my Pantry? |
| A: | That number depends on your computer and the type of foods that you add. Pantry stores foods from ND's database very efficiently, but uses slightly more memory to store new items that you create (i.e. custom entries and recipes). |
| Q: | I use ND's Pantry to analyze recipes served at a restaurant that I own, and would like to add your Nutrition Facts labels to my new menu. May I do this? |
| A: | Yes! There is a link on ND's Analysis page, directly below the Nutrition Facts label, that takes you to a separate page where you can generate and download high-resolution images of our Nutrition Facts label and Caloric Ratio Pyramid. These images may be used freely on most printed materials, including food ingredient labels, menus, and cook books. |
| Note: All images on the NutritionData website are copyrighted. Any other use of our images is strictly prohibited, without our express written consent. |
| Q: | Can I license your database and technology for use on my website? |
| A: | No, but ND's Searchbox may be the perfect solution for you. This special no-cost feature provides your visitors with direct access to ND's database. It's also quick and easy to install, and requires no maintenance. To learn more about it, see our Searchbox page. |
| Q: | How do changes in food composition data affect me? |
| A: | At Nutrition Data we updated our data on October 31, 2007, to reflect the USDA's
recent release of new food composition data (SR20). Impact of update to your Pantry:
What changed in the data?
For more information on the USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory and its National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, go to http://www.ars.usda.gov/nutrientdata. |
