Development of an Indian Food Composition Database

Abstract

An open-access and comprehensive nutrient database is not available in India. Our objective was to develop an open-access Indian Nutrient Databank (INDB). The development of the INDB consisted of 2 stages: creating a database of the nutrient composition data of individual food items (n = 1095) and a database of commonly consumed recipes (n = 1014). The stage 1 database was primarily derived from the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition’s Indian Food Composition Table (ICMR-NIN IFCT) from 2017, with gaps filled using the ICMR-NIN IFCT 2004 and nutrient databases from the United Kingdom and United States. The stage 2 database included information on the amounts of each ingredient used in each recipe, matched to a comparable item in the database from stage 1. This unique open-access resource can be used by researchers, the government, and the private and third sectors to derive nutrient intakes in India to better inform interventions and policies to address malnutrition.

Keywords

• food composition tables
• nutrient data
• Indian Nutrient Databank
• raw food items
• composite dishes