food composition tables

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food composition tables Tables of the chemical composition, energy, and nutrient yield of foods, based on chemical analysis. Although the analyses are performed with great precision, they are, of necessity, only performed on a few samples of each type of food. There is considerable variation, especially in the content of vitamins and minerals, between different samples of the same food, so calculation of nutrient intakes based on use of food composition tables, even when intake has been weighed, can only be considered to be accurate to within about±10%, at best. First American tables Chemical Composition of American Food Materials published by USDA in 1896; first UK tables The Chemical Composition of Foods by R. A. McCance and E. M. Widdowson published in 1940.

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