Australia gains an updated nutrient database
FSANZ said NUTTAB (Nutrient Tables for Use in Australia) was one of the most popular pages on its website and was used equally by consumers and researchers.
The database, first launched in 2006, contains information about 2668 foods available in Australia containing up to 245 nutrients per food.
“This is an important tool as it allows food researchers, dieticians, nutritionists, educators, consumers, people from industry and others to find out about nutrients in our food,” said Australian Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing Catherine King.
“For example educators in nutrition use NUTTAB not only for research but as part of studies looking into food composition. The data in NUTTAB can also help people make decisions and recommendations to people about nutrient intakes.”
NUTTAB 2010 contains:
- Separate files for indigenous foods, vitamin D and amino acids
- separate files for trans fatty acid data (reported for the first time)
- New data on liquids reported on a per 100mL basis
- updates for iodine, sodium, fat and fatty acids
- updates for beef, lamb, mutton, veal and pork
- updates for game meat data e.g. buffalo, venison, emu, rabbit, ostrich
The indigenous foods section included information about native gooseberry, quandong, bush tomato and the Polynesian arrowroot.
Data about commercial food additives and infant foods was removed.
King added: “It’s a really important reference source for people who want to see what nutrients they are taking in. It might be that they’ve been recommended to go on a low sodium diet. This tool helps them do that by giving them important information about how much sodium is in food.”
NUTTAB is available on line as a searchable database and as electronic database files.
Information about the database can be found here.
