The USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference is the major source of food composition data in the United States and provides the foundation for most public and private sector databases. This data is used as a component of the database for all versions of NutriBase. As food composition data are updated, new versions of the Standard Reference are released.

SR17 includes data for all the food groups and nutrients published in the 21 volumes of Agriculture Handbook 8 (U. S. Department of Agriculture 1976B92), and its four supplements (U.S. Department of Agriculture 1990B93), which superseded the 1963 edition (Watt and Merrill 1963). Since 1992, updated data have been published electronically on the USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory (NDL) website. SR17 supersedes all previous releases, including the printed versions, in the event of any differences.

With the first release of data from the new Nutrient Databank System (NDBS) in July 2001, NDL changed some formats and added fields to improve the descriptive information for food items and the statistical information about the nutrient values. While data in previous releases have been moved to the new NDBS, they have not been processed through the complete system. Therefore, many of these new fields contain data for only a limited number of items and it will take several years before they are populated for most food items in the database.

Data were compiled from published and unpublished sources. Published sources include the scientific and technical literature. Unpublished data are from the food industry, other government agencies, and research conducted under contracts initiated by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Values may be analytical or calculated by the use of appropriate factors or recipes, which is indicated by the source code in the Nutrient Data File. Every food item may not contain a complete nutrient profile.

Specific updates to this edition of the Standard Reference include:

• Updated nutrient profiles for 14 legumes and legume products.
• Revised a-tocopherol values in infant formulas to consider different activities of the all-rac and RRR forms of a-tocopherol.
• Added data for 19 Navajo foods and 71 Alaskan native foods as the first part of the American Indian/Alaskan Native Foods Database.
• Expanded frozen novelties and ice creams to include no sugar added, light and 98% fat free brand name items.
• Included brand name fast food data when analytical data were available through NFNAP
• Added data, including trans fat levels, for 28 typical industrial oils, margarines, and shortenings designed for use in commercial food products. These industrial products are described by oil source (soy, canola, etc.) and by recommended usage (filling fat, salad and light frying, confection, etc.).

The Standard Reference is the responsibility of the staff of the Nutrient Data Laboratory (NDL), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 10300 Baltimore Avenue, Building 005, Room 107, BARC-West

NutriBase was independently developed by CyberSoft, Inc. NutriBase software contains the USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 17. CyberSoft also calculated eight additional fields of data to the original SR17 data. These new fields include % Calories from Protein, % Calories from Carbohydrates, % Calories from Fat and % Calories from Alcohol. CyberSoft also calculated Calories from Protein, Calories from Carbohydrates, Calories from Fat and Calories from Alchohol and added them into the database. These eight values were calculated using the conversion factors provided by the USDA. All six of these new fields are searchable. CyberSoft also added nutrient information for brand name food listings, including restaurant menu items, nutritional supplements, enteral/parenteral products. Please direct all questions regarding NutriBase to CyberSoft, Inc. at 877-223-5459.

The USDA SR17 data contains data for 100 gram portions of 6,839 foods. The Nutrient Data Laboratory also included the information needed to calculate household measures (1 cup, 1 tsp., 2 oz., etc.) for most of these basic food entries. CyberSoft performed the required calculations and included the non-100 gram food portions in the database.

CyberSoft also added values for iodine, chromium, molybdenum, Omega-3 Fatty Acid, Omega-6 Fatty Acid, fluoride, biotin, and chloride. (Many of these values are available only in NutriBase Clinical and higher editions.) Iodine data was collected by CyberSoft from manufacturers of nutritional supplements and enteral/parenteral products which are included in this release of NutriBase. CyberSoft also derived the Omega-3 Fatty Acid and Omega-6 Fatty Acid from the existing USDA Fatty Acid information.

Note: The USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 17 provides values of zero or a blank for the conversion factors for mixed-ingredient food entries. Calculating "% Calories from" or "Calories from" values of zero would result in erroneous values. For this reason, CyberSoft used the 4-4-9 method (which is an AOAC approved method) to estimate the six added fields for mixed-ingredient food items. A value of "4.00" was used as the conversion factor for Protein; a value of "4.00" was used as the conversion factor for Carbohydrate, and a value of "9.00" was used as the conversion factor for Fat.

Related topics include Proximates, Minerals, Vitamins, Amino Acids, Fatty Acids