Patent attributes
The present invention uses market research data to access nutrient intakes of a population. Dietary collection using 24-hour recall generally does not reflect a pattern of “usual” intake behavior for a population group. To determine the impact of food consumption patterns on nutrient intake, a unique methodology using 14-day food diary was developed. The food industry has traditionally used detailed food records to track the consumption of specific branded food items and monitor the growth of food categories, but some of the most valuable databases available concerning longer-term (e.g., 14-day) food intake do not record portion size on an individual consumption basis. Other databases based on shorter-term (24-hour recall) survey periods record portion sizes but are not very representative of eating habits. The preferred exemplary embodiment integrates two such databases with a third data set providing detailed nutrient information for each of a wide variety of foods consumed to provide a combined database for processing nutrient intake reports using statistical analysis. This flexible system allows the user to categorize the population based on “usual” consumption of food categories, specific foods and/or specific brands of foods and determine dietary differences versus their “non-using” counterparts.
