NutritionData (ND) is a reference site that provides free and unbiased nutritional information.
What You Can Do Here
Regardless of whether you're trying to lose weight, gain weight, or improve your health, Nutrition Data's free reports will help guide you in making better, more nutritious food choices. Use Nutrition Data to...
Analyze ANY Food
Generate detailed nutrient facts and analysis for three different types of foods:
- Nutrition Data Foods. Our database contains thousands of common foods and food products, plus menu items from many popular restaurants. These foods can be found with Nutrition Data's search tools, as explained in the following sections of this page.
- Custom Entries. Nutrition Data can also be used to analyze any other food for which you know the nutrient content. If you can't find a food in Nutrition Data's database, simply enter it with the Custom Entry Tool.
- Recipes. One of the most powerful features of Nutrition Data is that it allows you to create and analyze your own recipes in the My Recipes area. This process is explained on the My Recipes Help page.
Generate Custom Nutrition Facts Labels
Every Nutrition Facts page includes a link to a high-resolution image of a Nutrition Facts label, and these can be freely used in research papers, news articles, product brochures, cookbooks, restaurant menus, and most other printed works.
Track Your Food Intake
Nutrition Data's My Tracking tool provides a convenient way to track your daily intake of calories and more than 130 individual nutrients. The My Tracking Help page will explain how to use this feature.
Estimate Your Daily Needs
Nutrition Data's BMI & Calories Burned Calculator will provide an estimate of your daily needs for Calories and nutrients, in accordance with the Institute of Medicine's latest recommendations. You can also use this tool to predict the Calorie-burning effects of many different types of exercise.
Learn How to Diet More Effectively
Nutrition Data's Better Choices Diet™ can teach you a way to reduce your caloric intake without increased hunger.
A tabbed menu bar appears at the top of all pages on this Web site, allowing you to quickly move between different sections. The gray text immediately underneath this navigation bar indicates your current position on the site. The primary sections of the Web site are marked by the following menu tabs:
Home: The Home page hightlights many of the features and tools available on Nutrition Data as well as links to our most popular pages.
Tools: Under the Tools tab are pages that contain specialized nutritional search tools and calculators.
Topics: You'll find pages that provide information on dieting and other nutritional topics under this tab.
My ND: Under the My ND tab are tools that let you personalize your Nutrition Data experience, such as favorite foods, a recipe analyzer, tracking tools, and preferences to customize your experience on Nutrition Data.
Help: Here you'll see pages that provide detailed explanations of Nutrition Data's special tools and reports.
How to Search Nutrition Data's Database
Unlike most search engines, Nutrition Data provides several different ways to find the food you're looking for. Here's an overview of our different search tools and methods:
Search by Food Name
Look for Nutrition Data's Food Search at the top of every page. To search for a food, simply enter its name (for example, apple) and click the Search button. If you'd like to limit your search to foods within a single food category, select that category from the drop-down menu before submitting your query.
Browse by Category
Nutrition Data's Food Search can also be used to view all foods within a category. To do so, simply select that category and click on the Search button without entering a food name.
Explore by Caloric Ratio
Located under the Tools menu, the Caloric Ratio Search is a graphic search tool that allows you to select foods based on their position on Nutrition Data's Caloric Ratio Pyramid™.
Explore by Nutritional Target Map™
Located under the Tools menu, the Nutritional Target Map Search is a graphic search tool that allows you to select foods based on their position on Nutrition Data's Nutritional Target Map™.
Search by Nutrient
Located under the Tools menu, the Nutrient Search Tool helps you determine which foods are highest or lowest in any specific nutrient(s).
At the bottom of the Nutrient Search, Caloric Ratio Search, or Nutritional Target Map Search pages you will see links to results based on Nutrition Data's Better Choices criteria or Estimated Glycemic Load (eGL)™. These links allow you to search for foods with the highest or lowest eGL and those that Nutrition Data rates highest for weight loss, weight gain, or overall nutrition.
For help on performing searches, please see Nutrition Data's Search Tips page.
Most searches result in multiple matches. For example, a search for apple might result in matches that include apples, apple juice, apple cookies, and apple pie. Nutrition Data displays these matches as a list of links on the search results page. Click on any of these food links to see the Nutrition Facts for that food.
The Nutrition Facts page available for every food includes several sections that identify and discuss the levels of different nutrients contained in the food. By studying this analysis, you'll be able to determine the food's nutritional strengths and weaknesses. A complete guide to understanding this report is presented on the Nutrition Facts Help page.
For your convenience, Nutrition Data's My Preferences page allows you to customize many default settings, such as which food categories are included in your searches, as well as personalize individual daily values to use within the My Tracking area.
Where to Get Additional Help
The following pages provide additional detail on the topics introduced in this Quick Start guide:
- Search Tips - for information on searching Nutrition Data's database.
- Glossary - for definitions of nutritional terms found on this Web site.
- Nutrition Facts Help - for a guide to understanding Nutrition Data's nutritional analysis.
- My ND Help - for an explanation of how to use My ND.
- FAQs - for answers to the questions that we're most frequently asked.
- About - for information about Nutrition Data.