A new version of the Brazilian Food Composition Database was recently released by the Food Research Center (FORC), one of the Research, Innovation, and Dissemination Centers (RIDC) supported by FAPESP. The online tool provides data on the chemical composition and energy value of 1,900 foods consumed by the Brazilian population, including raw or cooked, or with added salt, oil, or seasoning, as well as a variety of manufactured products and popular dishes. “The database provides information on 34 components, including vitamins and minerals, in the most important foods to the Brazilian population,” Elizabete Wenzel de Menezes, a professor at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the University of São Paulo and a researcher at FORC, told Agência FAPESP. The tool also gives the nutritional composition of typical Brazilian dishes according to different regional methods of preparation. One such example is couscous, which can be made entirely from corn in certain regions, or from several different ingredients in others. It is possible to search for specific nutrients or to evaluate the energy value of a certain meal.
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