Food Nutritional Guide

Nutrition is also known as nourishment that is essential for growth and in supporting animal and human life. Having the proper nutrition is very essential for the body to develop and keep healthy and free of illnesses.

A comprehensive guide to food nutrition can be found on - The USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference - Release 22 , that can be viewed on line where you can look up the nutrient content of 7,538 different foods directly from their home page or have it downloaded to your computer in several formats. There is even a search programs for PC and PDA.

The following links will take you to an entire data base which is the USDA's authoritative source on food nutrition. http://www.ars.usda.gov/ba/bhnrc/ndl http://www.nutritiondata.com/foods-020000000000000000000-1.html http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=18877

http://www.nutritiondata.com/help/glossary

http://www.nutrition.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=11&tax_level=1

If you are going to down load the reports you will need Adobe(R) Reader(R) to view them.

The Food and Nutrition Information Center is also another credible, accurate, and practical resource for nutrition and health professionals, educators, government personnel and consumers that have disseminated nutrition information since 1971.

You can find detailed information on nutrition, plus unique analysis tools that tell you more about how your health can be affected by foods which makes it easier to choose healthy foods.

Apart from these there are other sources that give guidance to nutritional food and can be found on the internet.

Most countries have made it compulsory that manufacturers are required by law to state the nutritional information on their packaging labels. Other factors are also sometimes mentioned such as "No preservatives", "Omega3", "Fibre", "Soluble Fiber", "No artificial ... ", and so on.

The European Union has by Directive 2008/100/EC of 28 October 2008 amending Council Directive 90/496/EEC requires nutrition labeling to be carried on all packaged foodstuffs including recommended daily allowances, energy conversion factors and its definitions and labeled mostly as "Nutrition Information" according to other EU languages.

It will at all times give values for a set quantity -- usually 100 g (3.5 oz) or 100 ml (3.5 imp fl oz; 3.4 US fl oz) of the produce -- and often also for a definite "serving".

For example the nutritional information panel used by Australia and New Zealand on their food packaging is in the following format:

NUTRITION INFORMATIONServings per package: xServing size: y g (or mL etc.)Quantity per ServingQuantity per 100 g (or 100 mL etc.)Energyn1 kJ (n?1 Cal)m1 kJ (m?1 Cal)Proteinn2 gn2 gFat, totaln3 gn3 g - saturated?n4 gn4 gCarbohydraten5 gn5 g - sugars?n6 gn6 gSodiumn7 mgn7 mg

Discuss It!