Development of the national food chemical composition database (ingredients, preparations, and processed foods) with a comprehensive component profile for food consumption research in Costa Rica and Portal LATINFOODS

• Grant number: 24/08107-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: July 31, 2024
• End date: October 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Pharmacy - Food Science
• Principal Investigator: Eduardo Purgatto
• Grantee: Kristy Soraya Coelho
• Supervisor: Georgina Gomez Salas
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR), Costa Rica
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/04561-9 - Latin American Food Composition Webportal, BP.PD

Abstract

Food composition (FC) data are essential elements for the implementation of actions in the areas of nutrition, health and education, agriculture, industry, and food marketing. The creation of the Latin American Food Composition Portal (LATINFOODS Portal) aims to provide information on food composition data (FCD) a from Latin American countries, in a harmonized way, encouraging the production of regional FCD (ingredients, preparations, and processed foods) of the countries that are part of the Latin American Food Composition Network (LATINFOODS). This internship proposal, linked to the project (2023/04561-9), aims to validate the protocols for harmonizing FCD from the countries that are part of the LATINFOODS network, for the compilation, aggregation of FCD and estimation of the chemical composition (CC) of preparations from recipes, in addition to the tools to be used during on-line training for members of the chapters of the LATINFOODS network, which will be responsible for the production of the databases. From the creation of the FCD generated with Costa Rica's food consumption information, in addition to providing quality information, a demand from FAO, on the LATINFOODS Portal, it will also be possible to redo inferences/analyses of consumption data already collected, such as from the Latin American Nutrition and Health Study - Costa Rica (ELANS Costa Rica, acronym in Latin America), as these data were analyzed with database from another country(ies) and the results generated may not reflect the actual nutrient intake of the population analyzed.