Systems and methods for determining nutrients within dietary intake

• US 7,076,438 B1
• Filed: 09/14/2001
• Issued: 07/11/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: General Mills Incorporated
• Original Assignee: General Mills Incorporated
• Inventors: Goebel, Michael T., Tobelmann, Rosemary, Albertson, Ann Marie
• Primary Examiner(s): Hayes, John W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Borissov, Igor N.
• Application Number:
  US09/951,775
• Time in Patent Office: 1,761 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/2, 705/3, 705/7, 705/10, 705/28, 705/29, 705/500, 600/300, 128/921, 177/25.16, 434/127, 708/130, 708/131, 708/133, 708/105, 702/173
• US Class Current: 705/7.32
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0204 Market segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/60 relating to nutrition control, e.g. diets
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/921 Diet management

Abstract

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.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for providing nutrient data based on dietary intake that reduces information within a dietary intake data set into combination codes used to index into food portion data, comprising:

reading, into at least one computer system from a dietary food intake source, dietary intake data for dietary intake over a period in excess of a week, said dietary intake data including the United States Department of Agriculture Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals;

automatically reducing, with said at least one computer system, said United States Department of Agriculture Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals dietary intake data into a smaller amount of food type code data useful for identifying nutrients in foods actually consumed by dietary intake study participants, said automatically reducing comprising iteratively applying multi-dimensional data reduction coordinates representing food item identification to said dietary intake data to provide combined food type codes, said multidimensional coordinates comprising food form, characteristic, flavor, classification, preparation method, package type and special label codes;

automatically grouping said combined food type codes according to dietary factors relating to nutrient makeup;

mapping, with said at least one computer system, said reduced dietary intake data combined and grouped food type codes with food nutrient information and food portion size information obtained from a source other than said dietary intake source; and

generating, with said at least one computer system, an output data set for analysis.

2. A computer implemented method of integrating diet information from multiple data sources to reduce information within a diet intake data set into combination codes used to index into food portion data, comprising:

acquiring, with at least one computer system, dietary intake information on a household level from multiple survey periods, said dietary intake data including the United States Department of Agriculture Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals;

automatically reducing, with said at least one computer system, said United States Department of Agriculture Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals dietary intake data into a smaller amount of data useful for identifying nutrients in foods actually consumed by dietary intake study participants, said automatically reducing comprising iteratively applying multi-dimensional data reduction coordinates comprising comprising food form, characteristic, flavor, classification, preparation method, package type and special label codes to provide combined food type codes, and grouping said combined codes according to dietary factors relating to nutrient makeup;

assigning each member of a household an individual ID; and

correlating, with said at least one computer system, said dietary intake information to said assigned individual IDs.

3. A computer implemented method of providing dietary intake analysis that reduces information within a dietary intake data set into combination codes used to index into food portion data, comprising:

acquiring, with at least one computer system, a dietary intake data set, said dietary intake data including the United States Department of Agriculture Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals;

selecting, with said at least one computer system, data fields within said data set that describe food items;

automatically reducing, with said at least one computer system, said selected fields to a food code by iteratively applying multi-dimensional data reduction coordinates comprising food form, characteristic, flavor, classification, preparation method, package type and special label codes to provide combined food type codes, and grouping said combined codes according to dietary factors relating to nutrient makeup; and

using said food code to provide linkage to further data structures specifying portion size and/or nutrient value.

4. A computer implemented method of extracting individual dietary intake information from a dietary intake data set that reduces information within a dietary intake data set into combination codes used to index into food portion data, comprising:

maintaining a household master file with at least one computer system;

reading, with said at least one computer system, food intake information associated with at least one individual from said dietary intake data set, said dietary intake data including the United States Department of Agriculture Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals;

automatically reducing, with said at least one computer system, said dietary intake data by iteratively applying multi-dimensional data reduction coordinates comprising food form, characteristic, flavor, classification, preparation method, package type and special label codes to provide combined codes, and grouping said combined codes according to dietary factors relating to nutrient makeup;

testing, with said at least one computer system, whether said read food intake information corresponds to an individual previously specified within said household master file; and

conditionally assigning and writing, with said at least one computer system into said household master file, based at least in part on said testing step, an identifier corresponding to said individual, said assigned identifier being different, from any identifier used by said data set in association with said individual.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said dietary intake data set spans multiple dietary intake survey reporting time periods, said testing step recognizes the same individual surveyed in said multiple dietary intake survey time periods, and said assigning and writing step is conditioned to not assign and write a different identifier for the same individual reporting in different survey reporting time periods.

6. A computer implemented method of providing nutrient intake information that reduces information within a dietary intake data set into combination codes used to index into food portion data, comprising:

reading, with at least one computer system, dietary intake information from a dietary intake data set including food description information, said dietary intake data including the United States Department of Agriculture Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals;

automatically reducing, with said at least one computer system, said food description information to a code, said reducing including iteratively applying a multi-dimensional data reduction coordinates comprising food type codes including food form, characteristic, flavor, classification, preparation method, package type and special label codes to provide combined codes, and groups said combined codes according to dietary factors that relate to nutrient makeup;

using said at least one computer system to look up said code within a data structure;

generating, with said at least one computer system, an exception if said code is not predefined within said data structure; and

if said code is predefined within said data structure, said at least one computer system using said data structure to associate nutrient and/or portion size information with said code.

7. A computer implemented method of generating a food descriptor code that reduces information within a dietary intake data set into combination codes used to index into food portion data, comprising:

reading, with at least one computer system, plural food descriptor fields from a dietary intake data set, said dietary intake data including the United States Department of Agriculture Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals;

iteratively looking up, with said at least one computer system, said food descriptor field values to generate plural corresponding combination codes;

concatenating, with said at least one computer system, said plural combination codes together into a food descriptor code including by iteratively applying multi-dimensional data reduction coordinates to comprising food form, characteristic, flavor, classification, preparation method, package type and special label codes to provide combined food type codes, and groups said combined codes according to dietary factors that relate to nutrient makeup; and

said at least one computer system using said food descriptor code to link with further data.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said further data comprises a recipe.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein said further data comprises a nutrient data set.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein said further data comprises a portion size data set.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein said further data comprises demographics data.

12. A computer system for extracting individual dietary intake information from a dietary intake data set that reduces information within a dietary intake data set into combination codes used to index into food portion data, comprising:

a storage medium storing a household master file;

a reader that reads food intake information associated with at least one individual from said dietary intake data set, said dietary intake data including the United States Department of Agriculture Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals;

a data reducer including means for reducing the amount of data within said dietary intake data by iteratively multi-dimensional data reduction coordinates comprising food form, characteristic, flavor, classification, preparation method, package type and special label codes to provide combined food type codes and groups said combined codes according to dietary factors that relate to nutrient makeup;

a tester that tests whether said food intake information corresponds to an individual previously specified within said household master file; and

an identifier assigned that conditionally assigns and writes into said household master file, based on the testing results of said tester, an identifier corresponding to said individual, said assigned identifier being different from any identifier used by said data set in association with said individual.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein said dietary intake data set spans multiple dietary intake survey reporting time periods, said tester recognizes the same individual surveyed in said multiple dietary intake survey time periods, and said identifier assigner is conditioned to not assign and write a different identifier for the same individual reporting in different survey reporting time periods.

14. A data processing system for providing nutrient intake information that reduces information within a dietary intake data set into combination codes used to index into food portion data, comprising:

a mass storage device that stores a dietary intake data set including food description information, said dietary intake data including the United States Department of Agriculture Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals;

a reduction computer including means for reducing said food description information to a code, by iteratively applying a multi-dimensional data reduction coordinates comprising food form, characteristic, flavor, classification, preparation method, package type and special label codes to provide combined food type codes, and grouping said combined codes according to dietary factors that relate to nutrient makeup;

a data structure that stores certain codes; and

a tester coupled to said data structure and to said reduction computer, said tester including means for generating an exception if said code is not predefined within said data structure and using said data structure to associate nutrient and/or portion size information with said code if said code is predefined within said data structure.

15. A computer system for generating a food descriptor code that reduces information within a dietary intake data set into combination codes used to index into food portion data, comprising:

a dietary intake data set including plural food descriptor fields, said dietary intake data including the United States Department of Agriculture Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals;

a table;

a data reducer including means for reducing said dietary intake data by iteratively applying multi-dimensional data reduction coordinates comprising food form, characteristic, flavor, classification, preparation method, package type and special label codes to provide combined food type codes and groups said combined codes according to dietary factors that relate to nutrient makeup, said data reducer including;

an iterative referencer means for iterative looking up said food descriptor field values within said table to generate plural corresponding combination codes; and

a concatenator means for concatenating said plural combination codes together into a food descriptor code.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein said further data comprises a recipe.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein said further data comprises a nutrient data set.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein said further data comprises a portion size data set.

19. The system of claim 15 wherein said further data comprises demographics data.

20. A data processing system for analyzing nutrient intake data that reduces information within a dietary intake data set into combination codes used to index into food portion data, comprising:

a mass storage device that stores a large dietary intake data set including food description information and having rows and columns, said dietary intake data including the United States Department of Agriculture Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals;

a data reducer coupled to said mass storage device, said data reducer including means for reducing said dietary intake data set into a smaller amount of data for use in identifying the nutrients in foods consumed by dietary intake study participants, said data reducer means combining codes for various food types by iteratively applying an eight-dimensional data reduction coordinates comprising food form, characteristic, flavor, classification, preparation method, package type and special label codes, within the dietary intake data set and for grouping said codes according to dietary factors that relate to the nutrient makeup of the foods, said grouping means operating based on a lookup table including at least the following keys;

a combination key representing a unique sequential value identifying a portion of a unique character code,

a category code identifying a general food group type,

a column number pointing to a column in the food intake data set, and

a column value designating one or more values that apply to a given column/category,

a data mapper means for mapping said reduced dietary intake data with at least a nutrient value data set and food portion size information; and

an output generator that generates mapped output results.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein said data reducer means scans a data reduction table to determine whether a particular food within the dietary intake data set has been defined within he lookup table and has a corresponding combination key.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein said data reducer means performs multiple iterative scans to yield additional combination keys that may be combined together to provide a combination code for particular food items identified in the food intake data set.

23. The system of claim 20 wherein said data reducer means creates a combination code food descriptor corresponding to a food-portion link data file storing information about foods that have been previously defined by combining a portion size data set with a nutrition data set for a particular food descriptor code.

24. The system of claim 20 wherein said data reducer means maps reduced unique food designators to food descriptor combination codes found within a food portion link file.

25. The system of claim 20 wherein said data reducer means generates exceptions when new food items are determined to exist within said dietary intake data set so a dietary intake scientist can dynamically update the lookup table to include new food items.

26. A method of reducing dietary intake data including the following steps performed at least in part by a data processing system that reduces information within a dietary intake data set into combination codes used to index into food portion data:

maintaining a combination key file;

selecting a subset of fields comprising type, form, character, flavor, classification, preparation method, package type, and special label, from the fields defined by a large food intake data set, said dietary intake data including the United States Department of Agriculture Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals,

looking up each column name and column value corresponding to said selected fields in the combination key file;

forming a character key based on the record number of items found within the combination key file;

looking up the formed character key in a food-portion link file;

determining whether said character code exists within a nutrient value data set;

outputting the character code with additional identifying information if said character code does not exist within the nutrient value data set to request a nutrient value analysis; and

respectively performing the above-mentioned steps until said food intake data set has been processed.