Human Nutrition Explorer

Press & Media

Data sources, methodology, citation guidelines, and embed codes for journalists and researchers.

The Human Nutrition Explorer is an open-data interactive platform that combines food composition data, global dietary patterns, and diet-disease connections across 2,310+ pages. Built by Triage Method, it aims to make nutrition science accessible, visual, and explorable.

✉ Media enquiries: [email protected]

📊 Key Statistics

7,793

Foods in database

113

Nutrients tracked per food

2,000

Curated food pages

200

Countries profiled

2,312

Total pages

Data sources harmonized

Nutrient detail pages

Comparison landing pages

🌎 Three Layers of Data

Layer 1: Food Composition

2,000 curated food pages with up to 113 nutrients per food. Harmonized from USDA Foundation Foods, Australian Food Composition Database (AFCD), and USDA SR Legacy. Each nutrient includes provenance tracking showing which database the value originated from.

Layer 2: Global Diet Atlas

200 country dietary profiles built from FAO Food Balance Sheets (1961–present). Interactive choropleth maps, dietary composition treemaps, and historical trend sparklines showing how national diets have changed over six decades.

Layer 3: Diet-Disease Connection

Dietary risk factor analysis from IHME Global Burden of Disease 2023 study. Maps how dietary patterns connect to health outcomes across 204 countries, covering deaths attributable to dietary risks from 1990 to 2023.

🔬 Data Methodology

Harmonized Food Composition

Food nutrient values follow a three-tier priority system: USDA Foundation Foods (laboratory-analysed, highest quality) is the primary source. Where Foundation Foods has gaps, values are filled from the Australian Food Composition Database (AFCD Release 3, 268 nutrients). USDA SR Legacy serves as the final fallback. Each nutrient value carries a provenance marker (F/A/S) indicating its source.

Curated Food Selection

From 7,793 total foods, 2,000 commonly consumed whole and minimally processed foods were selected for dedicated pages with full nutrient profiles, RDA comparison charts, and food group context. Selection criteria include real-world consumption frequency, search volume, and dietary significance. All 7,793 foods remain searchable and accessible through the search tool.

Global Dietary Data

Country dietary profiles use FAO Food Balance Sheets for food supply composition (1961–present) and IHME GBD estimates for dietary intake patterns (1990–2023). Important: FAO data represents food supply (production + imports − exports − waste), not actual consumption. This systematically overestimates intake. All FAO-derived visualisations are clearly labelled as supply data.

Diet-Disease Attribution

Disease burden data comes from IHME Global Burden of Disease 2023 study, which uses comparative risk assessment to estimate deaths attributable to dietary risk factors. These represent population-level statistical associations, not individual causal relationships. The data covers 204 countries across 34 years (1990–2023) for dietary and metabolic risk factors.

Quality Assurance

Automated validation runs 87+ checks on every build: nutrient value ranges, data completeness thresholds, Schema.org markup integrity, cross-page link validity, and sitemap consistency. Unit conversions (kJ→kcal, IU→µg) are verified against published conversion factors. Cross-database agreement is monitored with flags for values differing more than 20%.

📚 Data Sources

Source	Coverage	Use	Licence
USDA Foundation Foods	~3,500 foods, 150 nutrients	Primary source for food nutrient values	Public Domain (CC0)
FSANZ AFCD Release 3	1,588 foods, 268 nutrients	Gap-filler for nutrients absent in USDA	CC BY 4.0
USDA SR Legacy	7,793 foods, 150 nutrients	Fallback and comprehensive food coverage	Public Domain (CC0)
FAO Food Balance Sheets	180+ countries, 1961–present	Country food supply composition	CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO
IHME GBD 2023	204 countries, 1990–2023	Dietary risk factors and attributable deaths	Free for non-commercial use

📚 References & Sources

All data used in the Human Nutrition Explorer is derived from peer-reviewed research and authoritative public databases. Below is a comprehensive list of primary sources.

A. Primary Food Composition Databases

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central: Foundation Foods (2024). fdc.nal.usda.gov
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Legacy Release (2018). fdc.nal.usda.gov
Food Standards Australia New Zealand. Australian Food Composition Database – Release 3 (2024). foodstandards.gov.au
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. USDA Table of Nutrient Retention Factors, Release 6 (2007). ars.usda.gov

B. Global Dietary & Health Data

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. FAOSTAT Food Balance Sheets (1961–2023). fao.org/faostat
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Global Burden of Disease Study 2023. Seattle, WA: IHME, University of Washington. vizhub.healthdata.org
FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP & WHO. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023. Rome: FAO, 2023. DOI: 10.4060/cc3017en
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. nap.nationalacademies.org

C. Specialized Nutrition Data

Atkinson FS, Brand-Miller JC, Foster-Powell K, Buyken AE, Goletzke J. International tables of glycemic index and glycemic load values 2021. Am J Clin Nutr. 2021;114(5):1625–1632. DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/nqab233
Holt SHA, Miller JCB, Petocz P. An insulin index of foods. Am J Clin Nutr. 1997;66(5):1264–1276. Supplemented with Bell KJ, et al. Clinical application of the food insulin index. Diabetes Care. 2014;37(6):e155–e156.
Pérez-Jiménez J, Neveu V, Vos F, Scalbert A. Identification of the 100 richest dietary sources of polyphenols. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2010;64:S112–S120. DOI: 10.1038/ejcn.2010.221
Rothwell JA, et al. Phenol-Explorer 3.0: a major update of the Phenol-Explorer database. Database. 2013;2013:bat070. DOI: 10.1093/database/bat070
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. USDA Database for the Flavonoid Content of Selected Foods, Release 3.3 (2018). ars.usda.gov
INRA (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique). Phenol-Explorer 3.6 (2023). phenol-explorer.eu

D. Environmental & Planetary Health

Poore J, Nemecek T. Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science. 2018;360(6392):987–992. DOI: 10.1126/science.aaq0216
Willett W, Rockström J, Loken B, et al. Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. Lancet. 2019;393(10170):447–492. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31788-4

🔗 Embed & Cite

All visualisations and data are licensed under CC BY 4.0. Use these embed codes to reference the Human Nutrition Explorer in articles, blog posts, and research.

Link to a Food Page

Direct URL pattern for any curated food page:

https://triagemethod.com/tools/human-nutrition-explorer/food/{food-slug}.html

Example:
https://triagemethod.com/tools/human-nutrition-explorer/food/fish-salmon-atlantic-wild-raw.html
https://triagemethod.com/tools/human-nutrition-explorer/food/spinach-raw.html

Link to a Nutrient Page

Direct URL pattern for nutrient detail pages:

https://triagemethod.com/tools/human-nutrition-explorer/nutrient/{nutrient-slug}.html

Example:
https://triagemethod.com/tools/human-nutrition-explorer/nutrient/vitamin-c.html
https://triagemethod.com/tools/human-nutrition-explorer/nutrient/iron.html

Link to a Country Diet Profile

Direct URL pattern for country dietary profiles:

https://triagemethod.com/tools/human-nutrition-explorer/atlas/{country-slug}.html

Example:
https://triagemethod.com/tools/human-nutrition-explorer/atlas/japan.html
https://triagemethod.com/tools/human-nutrition-explorer/atlas/united-states.html

Academic Citation

Suggested citation format:

Human Nutrition Explorer. Triage Method, 2025.
Available at: https://triagemethod.com/tools/human-nutrition-explorer/

Data sources: USDA FoodData Central (CC0), FSANZ AFCD (CC BY 4.0),
IHME Global Burden of Disease 2023, FAO FAOSTAT.

HTML Attribution Link

Copy-paste attribution for web use:

<p>Data from
  <a href="https://triagemethod.com/tools/human-nutrition-explorer/">
    Human Nutrition Explorer
  </a> by Triage Method, licensed under
  <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a>.
</p>

🖥 Embeddable Widgets

Copy any iframe snippet below to embed interactive tools directly into your website. All widgets are responsive and load lazily.

Diet-Health Correlation Explorer

Interactive scatter plot of national dietary supply vs health outcomes across 170+ countries.

Nutrient Heatmap

Colour-coded matrix showing nutrient density across foods — compare any foods side by side.

Planetary Health Diet

EAT-Lancet reference diet breakdown with environmental impact comparison.

Chart Builder

Build custom scatter or bar charts from diet-health correlation data. Supports URL parameters for pre-configured views.

Food Search

Search 7,793 foods by name with instant nutrient results.

🍽 Nutrient Card Widget

Embed a compact nutrient profile card for any food. Shows calories, macros, and top 6 micronutrients as %RDA. Pass the USDA FDC ID as a URL parameter.

Nutrient Card (any food)

Replace ID with the USDA FDC ID. Example: 175167 = Salmon, 173944 = Bananas.

Diet Score Widget (any country)

Shows a country's diet quality score (0-100) based on food supply alignment with dietary targets. Pass the ISO3 country code. Example: JPN = Japan, USA = United States.

🗺 Page Directory

Section	Pages	Description
Homepage	1	Search, browse by nutrient, popular foods, tools
Food Search	1	Search all 7,793 foods with instant filtering
Food Pages	2,000	Individual food nutrient profiles with charts and RDA bars
Nutrient Pages	53	Nutrient detail with top foods bar charts and RDA tables
Compare Tool	1	Side-by-side comparison of 2–5 foods
Comparison Pages	37	Pre-built comparison landing pages for popular food matchups
Diet Atlas	202	Country dietary profiles with maps, charts, and trends
Diet & Disease	6	Dietary risk factors and health outcome connections
Nutrient Heatmap	1	Interactive colour-coded matrix of foods × nutrients
Nutrition Transition	1	60 years of global dietary change with scrollytelling narrative
How Poor Diet Kills	1	The 5 deadliest dietary risk factors and 6.4M annual deaths
Correlation Explorer	1	Scatter plots of national diets vs health outcomes
Global Diet Quiz	1	10-question quiz about global dietary patterns
Deficiency Atlas	1	4 billion affected by hidden hunger — 7 key micronutrient deficiencies
Planetary Health Diet	1	EAT-Lancet reference diet and environmental impact comparison
Cost of Nutrition	1	Global affordability of healthy diets — $3.96/day benchmark
Bioactive Compounds	1	30+ bioactive compounds including polyphenols and carotenoids
Chart Builder	1	Build custom scatter or bar charts from diet-health data with embed codes
Glossary	1	50+ nutrition terms with Schema.org markup
Press & Methodology	1	This page — stats, methodology, embed codes

Frequently Asked Questions

How many foods are in the Human Nutrition Explorer?

The database contains 7,793 foods from the USDA FoodData Central database, with 2,000 commonly consumed foods receiving dedicated pages with full nutrient profiles covering up to 113 nutrients per food. All 7,793 foods are searchable.

Where does the nutrition data come from?

The food composition data is harmonized from three primary sources: USDA Foundation Foods (lab-analyzed, primary), Australian Food Composition Database Release 3 (gap-filler), and USDA SR Legacy (fallback). Global dietary data comes from FAO Food Balance Sheets and the IHME Global Burden of Disease 2023 study.

Can I embed charts or data from the Human Nutrition Explorer?

Yes. All processed data, visualisations, and derived datasets are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). You are free to share and adapt for any purpose, including commercial use, with attribution to the Human Nutrition Explorer.

How is the Human Nutrition Explorer different from other nutrition databases?

The Human Nutrition Explorer uniquely combines food composition data with global dietary pattern data and diet-disease connection statistics in a single interactive platform. It covers 200 countries' dietary profiles, links dietary risk factors to health outcomes, and provides comparison tools, nutrient heatmaps, and interactive atlas features not available in standard nutrition databases.