Documentation for the USDA-NCI Carotenoid Food Composition Data Base Diskette: Version I, 1993 The complete database contains four ASCII files and attempts to orient the user to the background to and the potential purposes of the USDA-NCI Carotenoid Food Composition Data Base. File 1 has the foods with analytical carotenoid values based on actual laboratory analyses with the exception of several imputed carotenoid values, which are noted as such. The food groups represented are primarily fruits and vegetables. File 2 has the carotenoid estimates for multi-component foods calculated from carotenoid values for single (or individual) foods in File 1 using the Recipe File for the USDA Nutrient Data Base for Individual Food Intake Surveys or are the same foods with their carotenoid values in file number one. File 3 has the data to link the foods in File 1 to the Nutrient Data Base Number (NDB) from the USDA Nutrient Data Base for Standard Reference or derive the values for the foods in the Recipe File for the USDA Nutrient Data Base for Individual Food Intake Surveys. File 4 has the classification system underlying the codes used in the USDA Nationwide Food Consumption Survey (NFCS) which are located adjacent to food names in File 2. If you should have any questions or comments about the diskette, please contact either Dr. Michele Forman at NCI, 301-496-8559, or Ms. Joanne Holden at USDA, 301-734-8491. Note: These files contain labels identifying each column. It will be necessary for you to remove them before importing these files into programs such as spreadsheets and data base management systems. File 1 - Individual Fruits and Vegetables File 1 has 133 observations listed in alphabetical order, the median carotenoid value for each of five major carotenoids. and the confidence code for each carotenoid value. This file is described below. File 1 is primarily based on the manuscript: Mangels, A.R., Holden, J.M., Beecher, G.R., Forman, M.R., and Lanza, E. 1993. The Carotenoid Content of Fruits and Vegetables: An Evaluation of Analytical Data. J. Am. Dietet. Assoc. 93(3):284-296. The fields in File 1 are as follows: Column Field Field No. Numbers Name Description 1 1-4 OBS Observation Number 2 9-13 CAROTNO Carotenoid food number 3 19-47 NAME Food Name 4 49-55 ALPHA Alpha-carotene median value (mcg/100 g) 5 60 ALPHA-CC Confidence code for alpha-carotene value 6 65-70 BETA Beta-carotene median value (mcg/100 g) 7 75 BETA-CC Confidence code for beta-carotene value 8 80-83 CRYPT Beta-cryptoxanthin median value (mcg/100 g) 9 90 CRYPT-CC Confidence code for beta-cryptoxanthin value 10 97-101 LYCOPENE Lycopene median value (mcg/100 g) 11 103 LYCOPENE-CC Confidence code for lycopene 12 115-119 LUTEIN Lutein median value (mcg/100 g) 13 124 LUTEIN-CC Confidence code for lutein Additional information: The CAROTNO stands for the carotenoid food number which is an unique five-digit code. This number was assigned to each food in this file so that the user can look at the carotenoid values to the ingredients of a recipe, including the foods with analytically derived carotenoid values which were the basis for the calculated carotenoid profiles for the foods in File 2. The median value for each of the five carotenoids--Alpha-carotene, beta- carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, and lutein--is provided in alternating columns, with the confidence code for the carotenoid value following it's respective median. The median values were derived from analytical data for food carotenoids from published and selected non- published sources. The actual carotenoid values are located in Tables 6,7, and 9 of the aforementioned manuscript. A discussion of the use of medians in contrast with mean carotenoid values is also located in this manuscript along with the references to the laboratory papers describing the carotenoid analyses. The confidence code (A,B,C, or I) is defined as an indicator of the level of confidence a user can have in a particular estimate. A fourth code (I) in this column indicated an imputed value for that carotenoid in the specific food. See Mangels et al for a more comprehensive description of the confidence codes in Table 2 of the manuscript and the definition for the Confidence code=I is located in Table 5 in the same manuscript. Decision trees, or pathways to guide the quality rating process for analytical carotenoid values are also described in Mangels et al. File 2 - Multi-Component Foods File 2 has 2,423 observations, with calculated carotenoid estimates for the five carotenoids for each observation, and this file is described below. The development of this file is described in the manuscript: Chug-Ahuja, J.K., Holden, J.M., Forman, M.R., Mangels, A.R., Beecher, G.R., and Lanza, E. 1993. The Development of and Application of a Carotenoid Data Base for Fruits, Vegetables and Selected Multicomponent Foods. J. Am. Dietet. Assoc. 93(3):318-323. The fields in File 2 are as follows: Column Field Field No. Numbers Name Description 1 1-4 OBS Observation number 2 9-15 NFCS** NFCS Code 3 20-58 NAME Food Description name 4 60-63 ALPHA Alpha-carotene estimate (mcg/100 g) 5 68-72 BETA Beta-carotene estimate (mcg/100 g) 6 77-79 CRYPT Beta-cryptoxanthin estimate (mcg/100 g) 7 87-91 LYCOPENE Lycopene estimate (mcg/100 g) 8 99-103 LUTEIN Lutein estimate (mcg/100 g) ** Note that the first six foods in the file do not have NFCS codes; rather they have 5-digit codes from USDA's Nutrient Data Bank. Also the last 15 foods do not have NFCS codes; rather we have given them codes beginning with five 9's and then either an 8 or 9 followed by a number in sequence. As these foods do not have NFCS codes, other codes were assigned in order to include the foods in the data base. Additional information: The carotenoid estimates for each multi-component food which contains fruits and vegetables are calculated based on analytical values in File 1 and using the Recipe File for the USDA Nutrient Data Base for Individual Food Intake Surveys or are the actual values for the same food name in File 1. The NFCS code is a seven-digit code and are those codes used in USDA's Nationwide Food Consumption Surveys to identify individual foods. This code is used in both USDA"s Nationwide Food Consumption Surveys and the Department of Health and Human Services' National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Since this code is used in the applications of many national surveys, it can be used to directly link the carotenoid estimates to a survey data base. These codes are also used in the NFCS classification system, which is presented in File 4 and can assist you in organizing your data by food group and subgroup. File 3 - Linkage File File 3 can be used to link the foods in File 1 with the USDA Nutrient Data Base for Standard Reference, the machine-readable version of Agriculture Handbook No. 8. The fields in File 3 are as follows: Column Field Field No. Numbers Name Description 1 1-4 OBS Observation number 2 9-13 CAROTNO Carotenoid food number 3 18-22 NDB NDB Number 4 27-50 DESC Food description (From Carotenoid Food Composition Data Base) 5 52-71 NAME Food name (20-Character names from USDA Nutrient Data Base for Standard Reference) Additional information: The CAROTNO is a five digit code assigned to each food in File 1. See the description under File 1 for more information. The NDB number is a five-digit numerical code used in the USDA Nutrient Data Base for Standard Reference, the machine-readable version of Agriculture Handbook No. 8. The first two digits indicate the food group or handbook section to which the food belongs. The last three digits are the unique identifier for that food within a food group. Since these last three digits are not unique across all food groups or handbook sections, care should be taken separating these digits from the first two. The NDB number also corresponds to one of the codes used to designate ingredients in the Recipe File for the USDA Nutrient Data Base for Individual Food Intake Surveys and can be used to update calculated carotenoid values for those multi-component foods containing fruits and vegetables. Both the USDA Nutrient Data Base for Standard Reference and the Recipe File for the USDA Nutrient Data Base for Individual Food Intake Surveys can be downloaded from this site. For more information on these files contact the Nutrient Data Lab, 4700 River Road, Unit 89, Riverdale, MD 20737. Tel. 301-734-8491. File 4 - The NFCS Classification System File 4 has the classification system to the NFCS codes. It will assist in categorizing foods into food groups and may help in locating particular foods of interest. The complete NFCS codebook, containing all foods reported in the NFCS and their accompanying codes can also be downloaded from this site.