Food composition databases for effective quality nutritional care

Background and objectives: The main aim of this study was to validate a nutrient-estimation method applied using OPEN, a Slovenian platform for clinical nutrition. As the most desirable validation is a direct comparison of the calculated values with the values obtained from a chemical analysis of the same food, we performed a chemical analysis and a calculation for a representative set of daily meals (n=20) and compared the data. The secondary aim was to evaluate the usability of the OPEN for dietary assessment.

Methods: We used a Student's t test to observe any differences between the analysed and calculated nutrient-content data, considering the 0.01 significance level.

Results: No statistically significant differences were observed in the mean contents of energy, total dietary fibre, water, macro-nutrients, and selected essential minerals: Ca, Fe, Mg, Zn, Na, P, Cu and I. We notice statistically significant difference in the mean calculated and analytical values of selenium.

Conclusions: We noticed remarkable, but not statistically significant, difference in the mean values of iodine (-11%). The present study also indicates that the OPEN is a useful and cost-effective tool for both dieticians and patients.