General information about the data tables

Food names

The food names are given in English, Danish and where appropriate the scientific name of the food is also indicated.

Refuse/waste

The value for refuse indicates how much of the original food that can be considered as edible.

Recalculation from 100 g edible part to grams of "bought" food can be done in the following way:

g ("bought" food) = 100 g * (100 %/ (100 % - refuse %))

Remark that the values for refuse in the tables often has been estimated on the analysed foods. Therefore, the refuse values do not always correspond the the refuse values known by the user in practice.

Content

All food composition values are given as per 100 g edible part of the food.

The values are presented with a number of significant digits according to the precision by which the values have been determined. The precision is dependent of the method of analysis, calculation procedure, etc. For the same component, the precision can vary according to how the value was determined.

The content value is normally based on yearly averages unless otherwise indicated in the food name.

Values have been given for all components, if found. An empty space in the content column without any source indication means that information about the component in question has not been found. If possible, the content has been estimated from a similar food (sources 00005 and Txxxx) or calculated based on various analytical data (source 00050). This means that for entries in the tables with no value, a zero value cannot automatically be assigned.

A zero (0) in the content column indicates that either the natural content of the component in question is zero (source 00000) or that traces of the components are present but the amount so small that is does not have any significance in this context.

In the Danish Food Composition Databank, it is a general rule that the sum of the macronutrients protein, carbohydrate, fat, alcohol, ash and moisture (water) do not add up to 100 g. The reason for this is that data most often are collected from different sources, and of course, due to some inaccuracy in chemical analysis. If possible (sources of variation known), the sum of the the macronutrients has been adjusted to 100 g.

Please remark that if only the content and the source for a component is indicated (no variation and no number of analysis) the information for this component should be regarded with some reservation as both the variance and the number of analysis/samples are unknown.

Variation

For information about single components where analysis has been performed on every sample, the variation or range in the content is indicated with the found minimum and maximum value.

In cases where the source has only indicated the standard deviation for the sample results, the variation is represented by the 95% confidence interval.

Number of samples (No.)

In the compilation of the data for the Danish Food Composition Databank, emphasize has been given to including data where the number of analysis has been given. The number of analysis is an important and simple quality parameter. If sampling has been done correctly, a higher number of samples makes the validity of the content value higher.

IMP in the 'No.' column is often found with data imported from the USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference (sources 00800, 00804). This is USDA's way of indicating that the values have been 'imputed'.

Source

For all information given, the source is indicated the code in the source column. The bibliographic information on the source is revealed by clicking the source number. Those interested in getting more information or investigating the data quality should refer to the original material in details.

Sources indicated by Txxxx (eks. T0115)  shows that data are transferred from food no. xxxx (here 0115 is potato). This is also indicated by the data source.

Sources of the type Sxxxx indicate that the data are merged from several sources. This is often the case when several analogous studies have been have been performed on the same type of food and where the data do not differ much from study to study.

The source code 00000 indicates that the content of the component in question is naturally zero (or that the value is so low that it has no significance).

The source code 00050 indicate that the value has been calculated. This is most often the case for energy, total carbohydrate, vitamin A (retinol equivalents), vitamin E (α-tocopherol equivalents), niacin (equivalents), the sums of the different sugar fractions, as well as the sums of the three the fatty acid fractions. Furthermore, the amino acids and the fatty acids are calculated on the basis of the amino acid profile and total nitrogen on the fatty acid profile and the total fat content, respectively.

In some cases the values have been calculated on the basis of the constituents/ingredients of the food, source 00055.

For more specific information about the calculated/imputed values, see the more specific explanations concerning the components.