Survey on utilization and demand for national food composition database / 한국영양학회지

PURPOSE: This study was performed to evaluate the utilization of a current national Food Composition Database (FCDB) and to investigate demand for nutrients that should be added or supplemented in order to expand the national FCDB. METHODS: Surveys were constructed based on the utilization of FCDB, use of a food and nutrition analysis program, utilization and importance of nutritional ingredients, and nutritional ingredients desired to be supplemented in the national FCDB. Self-administered surveys were obtained from 349 food and nutrition specialists, including dietitians, nutrition teachers, food industry workers, professors, and researcher. RESULTS: Exactly 73.6% of respondents used the FCDB, and 90.5% experienced using various food and nutrition analysis programs. Professors and researchers frequently utilized protein, carbohydrate, and lipid nutrients in the FCDB. Among vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin A, and vitamin D were frequently used. Among minerals, sodium and calcium were highly used. Among the subjects, 17.4% of subjects have used phytochemical DB. Carotenoids, anthocyanins, and isoflavones among phytochemicals were frequently used, in that order. Respondents desired an additional data on sugars, vitamin D, folic acid, selenium, iodine, dietary fiber, vitamin B12, and carotenoids in the FCDB. CONCLUSION: The survey results indicate that the current FCDB is actively used for various purposes, although it is necessary to construct a national nutrition database with additional nutrients.

NutriSyn: Knowledge Based Synonym Retrieval Service for Food and Dishes on the Web

Studies based on food analysis or food databases use the national standard food database. Although Internet information services are increasing gradually, users are only able to get definitive and profitable information using standard food terms. Until now, it has been uncommon to find food retrieval services that include users' regional or historical characteristics. Thus, this study introduces a prototype for Food and Dish Synonym Retrieval (NutriSyn) that includes synonyms and related words. The environments which NutriSyn was implemented were Linux for the server operating system, the Microsoft Windows series for the users' operating system and Apache for a web server. The development languages used are PHP, JavaScript and HTLM with a MySQL database. Users can access NutriSyn using Internet browsers. The main menu items are (1) Food Synonym DB, (2) Dish Synonym DB, (3) Food Information DB, (4) Dish Information DB, and (5) Food and Menu Synonym Retrieval. This system is expected to be a useful tool for food experts and inter- disciplinary research.