Consumptions data formats
Consumption data is often collected in 24-hour dietary recall studies and contains the food consumptions and consumption amounts for a number of individuals on a number of days. For each of the individuals, the bodyweight should be specified, and optionally also age, sex, and other properties may be recorded. If applicable, sampling weights may also be specified that can be used to correct the sample of individuals in the survey to a more representative sample of the targeted population. The consumption amounts are usually expressed in grams, but may also be expressed in alternative units of plates, cups, or spoons. Optionally, the uncertainty of food consumption quantifications can be specified, see Souverein et al. (2011).
Consumption surveys are described using three tables: FoodSurveys, Individuals, and Consumptions. Individuals are linked to food surveys using the survey code (idFoodSurvey), and consumptions are linked to individuals using the individual codes (idIndividual). The food codes used to identify the consumed foods should match with the codes provided by the foods entity definitions.
Download empty dataset template:
Food consumption surveys
The records of the food consumption surveys table contain the ids, names, descriptions, and other relevant metadata of consumption surveys.
Table aliases: FoodConsumptionSurveys, ConsumptionSurveys, FoodSurveys, Surveys.
| Name | Type | Description | Aliases | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
idSurvey |
AlphaNumeric(50) |
Unique identification code of the food consumption survey. |
idSurvey, idFoodSurvey, Survey, FoodSurvey, SurveyId, FoodSurveyId, Code, Id |
Yes |
Name |
AlphaNumeric(100) |
The name of the food consumption survey. |
Name, SurveyName |
No |
Description |
AlphaNumeric(200) |
Description of the food consumption survey. |
Description |
No |
Location |
AlphaNumeric(50) |
The location or country where survey is held. It is recommended to use ISO Alpha-2 country codes. |
Location, Country |
No |
BodyWeightUnit |
BodyWeightUnit | The unit of bodyweight of the individuals of the survey: kg (default) or g. |
BodyWeightUnit, UnitBodyWeight, WeightIn |
No |
ConsumptionUnit |
ConsumptionUnit | The unit of the use/consumption amounts of the consumptions of the survey: g (default) or kg or CustomUnit (see table food consumption quantifications table). |
AmountUnit, UnitAmount, AmountUnit, ConsumptionUnit |
No |
StartDate |
DateTime |
The start date of the survey. |
StartDate |
No |
EndDate |
DateTime |
The end date of the survey. |
EndDate |
No |
NumberOfSurveyDays |
Integer |
The number of days each individual participated in the survey. |
NumberOfSurveyDays, NDaysInSurvey |
Yes |
idPopulation |
AlphaNumeric(50) |
Unique identification code of the population. |
IdPopulation, PopulationId |
No |
Individuals
The individuals of a survey are recorded in the Individuals table. Add additional properties like Region, Breastfeeding to further describe an individual. In table IndividualProperties, each property in the Individuals table is described (recommended way). Note that only those properties that are available in the Individuals table are used in module Populations, table Populations or PopulationIndividualPropertyValues to subset the individuals. This is only relevant when the UseData option in the population module is used.
Table aliases: Individuals, SurveyIndividuals, ConsumptionSurveyIndividuals, FoodConsumptionSurveyIndividuals.
| Name | Type | Description | Aliases | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
idIndividual |
AlphaNumeric(50) |
Unique identification code of the individual. |
idIndividual, IndividualId, Individual, Id |
Yes |
idFoodSurvey |
AlphaNumeric(50) |
The identification code / short name of survey. |
idSurvey, idFoodSurvey, Survey, FoodSurvey, SurveyId, FoodSurveyId, SurveyCode |
Yes |
BodyWeight |
Numeric |
The body weight of the individual. |
BodyWeight, Weight |
Yes |
SamplingWeight |
Numeric |
The sampling weight for an individual (default = 1). |
SamplingWeight |
No |
NumberOfSurveyDays |
Integer |
The number of days the individual participated in the survey. |
NumberOfSurveyDays, NumberOfDaysInSurvey, DaysInSurvey, NDaysInSurvey |
No |
Name |
AlphaNumeric(100) |
Name or label of the individual. |
Name |
No |
Description |
AlphaNumeric(200) |
Additional description of the individual. |
Description |
No |
Individual properties |
Other individual properties can be added like the fields Age, Gender, Region etc. These properties are automatically parsed as co-factors or co-variables. |
No |
IndividualDays
The individuals and days in the survey are recorded in the individualDays table.
Table aliases: IndividualDays, SurveyIndividualDays, ConsumptionSurveyIndividualDays, FoodConsumptionSurveyIndividualDays.
| Name | Type | Description | Aliases | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
idIndividual |
AlphaNumeric(50) |
The identification code of the individual. |
idIndividual, IndividualId, Individual, Id |
Yes |
idDay |
AlphaNumeric(50) |
Identification code of the day of consumption, sequential number |
idDay, DayId, Day, DayOfSurvey |
Yes |
SamplingDate |
DateTime |
The date of the consumption. |
Date, SamplingDate, SurveyDate |
No |
Individual properties
This table is used to describe the properties used in the Populations or PopulationIndividualPropertyValues table characterising the population (table Populations) and/or the properties used in the Individuals table characterising an individual. Properties like Age, Gender, Region are describing an individual (PropertyLevel = Individual). Properties like Period (for populations) or Month (sampling date for an individual day) are describing an individual day (PropertyLevel = IndividualDay).
Table aliases: IndividualProperties, IndividualProperty.
| Name | Type | Description | Aliases | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
idIndividualProperty |
AlphaNumeric(50) |
The code of the property. |
idIndividualProperty, IndividualPropertyId, IndividualProperty |
Yes |
Name |
AlphaNumeric(100) |
The name of the property. |
Name |
No |
PropertyLevel |
PropertyLevelType | The level of the property. This type follows a controlled terminology, with possible values: Individual or IndividualDay. |
PropertyLevel, LevelProperty |
No |
Description |
AlphaNumeric(200) |
Description of the property. |
Description |
No |
Type |
IndividualPropertyType | This field specifies the type of the values of this individual property. This type follows a controlled terminology, with possible values: Boolean, Categorical (default), Numeric, Nonnegative, Integer, NonnegativeInteger, Month, Datetime, Gender. |
Type |
No |
Individual property values
Not recommended. This table describes individual property values. Property values are describing an individual for properties like e.g. Region, Breastfeeding. The recommended way is to add these columns as additional columns in the Individuals table. In table IndividualProperties, each property in the IndividualPropertyValues table is described.
Table aliases: IndividualPropertyValues, IndividualPropertyValue.
| Name | Type | Description | Aliases | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
idIndividual |
AlphaNumeric(50) |
The identification number of the Individual. |
Id |
Yes |
PropertyName |
AlphaNumeric(50) |
The name of the property. |
Name |
Yes |
TextValue |
AlphaNumeric(50) |
The value of the property as text value. |
No |
|
DoubleValue |
Numeric |
The value of the property as number. |
No |
Consumptions
The individual consumptions are recorded in the consumptions table.
Table aliases: FoodConsumptions, FoodConsumption, Consumptions, Consumption.
| Name | Type | Description | Aliases | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
idIndividual |
AlphaNumeric(50) |
The unique identification code of the consumer (individual). |
idIndividual, IndividualId, Individual |
Yes |
idFood |
AlphaNumeric(50) |
The food code (food as eaten code). |
idFood, Food, FoodId, FoodConsumed, FoodAsEaten |
Yes |
idUnit |
AlphaNumeric(50) |
Identification code of the unit in which the food is consumed (e.g. plate, cup, spoon). |
idUnit, Unit, UnitId |
No |
idDay |
AlphaNumeric(25) |
Identification code of the day of consumption, sequential number |
idDay, DayId, Day, DayOfSurvey |
Yes |
idMeal |
AlphaNumeric(25) |
Identification code of the meal (eating occasion within a day). |
idMeal, MealId, Meal |
No |
Amount |
Numeric |
The consumed portion of food in g (default) or kg or quantity of a plate, cup, spoon. Days without consumptions are not recorded. |
Amount, AmountConsumed |
Yes |