Reliability of Food Product Databases for Calorie Tracking: An Analysis of 857,655 Products (USDA vs Open Food Facts)
Description
This study analyzes the internal consistency of 857,655 food products across the two main open food databases used by nutrition apps: USDA FoodData Central and Open Food Facts. Roughly 1 scanned product in 3 shows a caloric value inconsistent with its own declared macronutrients (4 kcal/g protein, 4 kcal/g carbohydrate, 9 kcal/g fat). Products deviating by more than 15% are flagged as inconsistent. The deposit contains the full study as PDF in English and French. Web versions of the study: https://lean-app.com/etude-base-donnees-calories/ (French) and https://lean-app.com/en/etude-base-donnees-calories/ (English). Related deposits: Zenodo https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22284416 , Figshare https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.33432244 , OSF https://osf.io/tczvj/ Conducted by the research team at Lean ( https://lean-app.com/ ), a nutrition tracking app computing full TDEE: BMR from measured body fat, NEAT from steps, exercise calories, and the thermic effect of food.