ND Quick Start
NutritionData (ND) is a reference site which provides free and unbiased nutritional information.
What You Can Do Here
Regardless of whether you're trying to lose weight, gain weight, or improve your health, ND's free reports will help guide you in making better, more nutritious food choices. Use ND to...
Analyze ANY Food
ND will generate nutritional analyses for three different types of foods:
- ND Foods. ND's database contains several thousand common foods and food products, plus menu items from many popular restaurants. These foods can be found with ND's search tools, as is explained in the following sections of this page.
- Custom Entries. ND can also be used to analyze any other food for which you know the nutrient content. If you can't find a food in ND's database, simply enter it with ND's Custom Entry Tool.
- Recipes. One of the most powerful features of ND is that it allows you to create and analyze your own recipes. This process is explained on the Pantry Help page.
Generate Custom Nutrition Facts Labels
Every ND analysis includes a link to high-resolution Nutrition Facts images, which can be freely used in research papers, news articles, product brochures, cook books, restaurant menus, and most other printed works.
Track Your Total Consumption
ND provides a convenient way to track your daily intake of Calories and over 130 individual nutrients. The Pantry Help page will explain how to use this feature.
Estimate Your Daily Needs
ND's BMI & Calories Burned Calculator will provide an estimate of your daily needs for Calories and nutrients, in accordance with the Institute of Medicine's latest recommendations. You can also use this tool to predict the Calorie-burning effects of many different types of exercise.
Learn How to Diet More Effectively
ND's Dieting and Weight Loss page dispels common weight loss myths, and provides helpful tips and resources for dieters. And ND's Better Choices Diet™ can teach you a way to reduce your caloric intake without increased hunger.
Page Navigation
A tabbed menu bar appears at the top of all pages on this website. This menu bar indicates your current position on the site, and allows you to quickly move between different sections. The primary sections of this website are marked by the following menu tabs:
Home: The Home page includes links to ND's most popular pages.
Tools: Under the Tools tab are pages that contain specialized nutritional search tools and calculators.
Topics: Under the Topics tab are pages that provide information on dieting and other nutritional topics.
Pantry: Pantry is a personal storage area, where you can create and maintain a favorite list of foods. The foods in your Pantry can be analyzed, compared, combined to form recipes, or added to a daily running total.
Help: Under the Help tab are pages that provide detailed explanations of ND's special tools and reports.
Note: To enhance the quality and speed of searches, ND makes extensive use of Javascript. To use most features of this site, your browser must have Javascript enabled. If you don't see the tabbed menu bar at the top of this page, that means that Javascript is turned off. To turn it back on, adjust your browser's preference settings, and then reload this page.
How to Search ND's Database
Unlike most search engines, ND provides several different ways to find the food you're looking for. Here's an overview of ND's different search tools and methods:
Search by Food Name
Look for ND's FoodSearch tool at the top of every page. To search for a food, simply enter its name (for example, apple) and click the FoodSearch button. If you'd like to limit your search to foods within a single food category, select that category from the dropdown menu prior to submitting your query.Browse by Category
ND's FoodSearch can also be used to view all foods within a category. To do so, simply select that category and click on the FoodSearch button without entering a food name.Select a Search Link
Click on any of the fast food links on the right side of ND's home page to display a list of foods from that restaurant's menu, or click on the 50 Most Popular Foods link to display a list of the foods that are most often analyzed.Explore by Caloric Ratio, Fullness Factor, eGL or IF Rating
ND's Explorer is a graphic search tool that allows you to select foods based on their position on ND's Caloric Ratio Pyramid or Nutritional Target Map. This tool also allows you to search for foods with the highest or lowest eGLs or IF Ratings and foods that ND rates highest for weight loss, weight gain, or overall nutrition.Search by Nutrient
ND's Nutrient Search Tool helps you determine which foods are highest or lowest in any specific nutrient(s).
For help on performing searches, please see ND's Search Tips page.
Results
Most searches result in multiple matches. For example, a search for apple might result in matches that include apples, apple juice, apple cookies, and apple pie. ND displays these matches as a list of links on the search results page. Click on any of these food links to see a nutritional analysis of that food. If the search results include more than 50 matches, a navigation link at the bottom of the listing will allow you to view results on additional pages.
Analysis
ND's Analysis report includes several sections that identify and discuss the levels of different nutrients contained in the food. By studying this analysis, you'll be able to determine the food's nutritional strengths and weaknesses. A complete guide to understanding this report is presented on ND's Analysis Help
page.
ND Preferences (optional)
For your convenience, ND's Preferences page allows you to customize many of ND's default settings, such as which food categories are included in your searches, and which information is included on your Results and Analysis pages.
How to Receive ND's Newsletter
ND's bi-weekly newsletter keeps you up-to-date with the latest nutrition news and research as well as site updates and improvements. To register for our newsletter, please use the registration form in the lower left corner of ND's Home page.
Note: We respect both your privacy and your time. We will only email you information that we believe to be valuable, and we promise not to share your contact information with any outside party.
Where to Get Additional Help
The following pages provide additional detail on the topics introduced in this Quick Start guide:
- Search Tips - for information on searching ND's database.
- Glossary - for definitions of nutritional terms found on this website.
- Analysis Help - for a guide to understanding ND's nutritional analysis.
- Pantry Help - for an explanation of how to use ND's Pantry.
- FAQ's - for answers to the questions that we're most frequently asked.
- Privacy - for a disclosure of ND's privacy policy.
- About - for information about the people behind ND.
