Nutrient Content of the U.S. Food Supply, 1970-90 Prepared by: Shirley Gerrior and Claire Zizza U.S. Department of Agriculture Agriculture Research Service Human Nutrition Information Service Nutrition Education Division The nutrient content of the U.S. food supply is a historical series on the amounts of nutrients in foods available for consumption. Changes since 1909 in food use and food composition are reflected in the nutrient content of the food supply. This series is the only source of such information recorded on an annual basis; thus it monitors trends in the levels of food and nutrients in the American diet and is one of the five main components of the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Program. Per capita data for 1970 through 1990 are provided here. The U.S. food supply data are used for several purposes: - To assess the potential of the U.S. food supply to meet the population's food energy and nutrient needs. - For comparisons with the supplies of different countries. Per capita nutrient values for other countries are calculated in a similar manner by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. - For epidemiological studies that examine the relationships between food or nutrient availability and morbidity. - To monitor trends in food and nutrient use over time, the most common use. These data show, researchers, policymakers, program managers, health professionals and media representatives, when improvements in the U.S. diet were made and what improvements are still needed. The amount of nutrients available for consumption are derived from two data sets. The first set contains the quantities of foods available for consumption in the U.S. This data set is also a historical series and is compiled by the Economic Research Service (ERS) of USDA. ERS reports this data in pounds per capita per year. The second set, the Primary Data Set (PDS), contains data on the nutrient composition of food. The PDS is a component of USDA's National Nutrient Data Bank. Nutritionists calculate the nutrient content of the food supply by multiplying the retail weight of each food by the nutrient composition per pound of food. Results from all foods are totaled for each nutrient and converted to the amount per day: Thus the measurement basis is per capita per day for each year. These values represent the amount of nutrients available from the nation's supply of food, and not the amount of nutrients actually eaten by individuals. The food supply estimates are national averages of the amount of nutrients in foods available to each individual if all foods were distributed equally among all individuals. Thus, these averages do not reflect food supply differences due to demographic, regional, socioeconomic, or other differences in the U.S. population. For more information, please contact: Shirley Gerrior Human Nutrition Information Service 6505 Belcrest Road, Rm 327 Hyattsville, MD 20782 (301)436-5802 Data File Format The data are provided as an ASCII file. Each record in the data file consists of all of the nutrient values for one year. Fields are delimited by a comma. Columns 1-4 contain the year corresponding to the nutrient estimates. The per capita per day values are listed in each record in the following sequence: Nutrient Measurement Unit Food energy Kilocalorie Carbohydrate Gram Protein Gram Total fat Gram Saturated fat Gram Monounsaturated fat Gram Polyunsaturated Fat Gram Cholesterol Milligram Vitamin A (retinol equivalents) Microgram Carotenes (retinol equivalents) Microgram Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol Milligram equivalents) Vitamin C Milligram Thiamin Milligram Riboflavin Milligram Niacin Milligram Vitamin B-6 Milligram Folate Microgram Vitamin B-12 Microgram Calcium Milligram Phosphorus Milligram Magnesium Milligram Iron Milligram Zinc Milligram Copper Milligram Potassium Milligram