Portable nutrients
Nutrient Database, a listing of more than 6,000 food items, is
available for downloading free of charge onto handheld personal
digital assistants, or PDAs.
At the American Dietetic Association's annual conference this week, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that its flagship National Nutrient Database, that lists more than 6,000 food items, is now available for downloading free of charge onto handheld personal digital assistants, or PDAs.
According to the USDA this searchable nutrient database programme will soon be available for download onto personal computers as well.
"Consumer information and education about healthy lifestyles and diets will help advance President Bush's Healthier US initiative," claimed Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman. "Easy access to nutrient information on thousands of foods provides a new tool to help consumers follow a healthy diet."
USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and HealtheTech said at the conference that the software package has been made available for download from the Internet to users through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between the ARS Nutrient Data Laboratory and HealtheTech.
"Consumers, health professionals and educators seeking user-friendly nutrient data will no longer be limited to using the USDA's premier nutrient database only while online," said Phyllis Johnson, director of the ARS Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, which manages the nutrient database.
Owners of PDAs running the Palmô operating system (Palm OS®) can download the searchable database by going to http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp. According to the USDA the download takes about 30 seconds and requires about two megabytes of available memory on PDAs.
"This package is available at no cost as a free 'e-government' service," said Johnson.
Assembled by food groupings, the searchable programme will allow users to browse a given category by scrolling through foods listed alphabetically.
