Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BHNRC) » Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center » Docs » Documentation

Documentation
headline bar

 

The Community Nutrition Mapping Project (CNMap)

Overview
Data Sources
Selected Populations
Analytical Procedures
Map Gallery
Choose a state

 

Overview

The Community Nutrition Mapping Project (CNMap) is an application that combines and aggregates food and nutrition indicators at geographic levels.  CNMap was created to provide a snapshot of these indicators at the state and national level. CNMap is divided into five major categories: nutrient intakes, healthy eating patterns, physical activity and body weight indicators, food security indicators, and demographics.

Data Sources

CNMap indicators are obtained from a variety of sources.  Version 1 food and nutrient intakes were derived from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII).  Version 2 food and nutrient intakes originate from "What We Eat in America" ( WWEIA), the dietary intake interview component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey ( NHANES).  WWEIA, formerly known as CSFII, is conducted as a partnership between the USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).  This release is an update to version 2.

Other indicators such as food security, body measurements, physical activity and dietary supplement use were taken from the NHANES.  Farmers market data was obtained from the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) website: http://www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets/map.htm

Data on food stamp participation was obtained by using Census Bureau estimates for state populations ( http://www.census.gov/popest/housing/HU-EST2005.html) and the actual number of households participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program downloaded from the Food and Nutrition Service website: http://www.fns.usda.gov/oane/MENU/Published/snap/snap.htm.

Demographic information was obtained from the Bureau of the Census QuickFacts web site.

Selected Populations

Nutrient intakes are for individuals 2 year old and over, who completed Day-1 intakes for the 1999-2000, the 2001-2002, and the 2003-2004 WWEIA/NHANES.  These values are not intended to reflect usual intakes.  The estimates are based on Estimated Average Requirements (EARs) 1.  Adequate Intakes (AIs) 1are used for nutrients that do not have EAR values as noted in the tables.  The EARs and AIs are established based on defined levels of nutritional status indicators.  Where the intakes of population groups are at a higher prevalence of inadequacy, it is important to consider the indicator of adequacy chosen.  Since only one-day intakes are used and thus unadjusted, the prevalence of inadequacy may be over-estimated 2.   It is also important to note that the WWEIA survey deos not include nutrients obtained from dietary supplements (e.g., multi-vitamins), thus the values may under estimate total intake.

For the healthy eating patterns, food group data are derived from the ARS MyPyramid Equivalents Database for individuals 2 years old and over.  The other indicators (i.e., energy from total fat, energy for saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium) were derived from WWEIA.

Dietary supplement data are for individuals 2 year old and over.  Although information is available on physical activity for individuals 2 years old and over, only data for individuals 12 years old and over are used for this presentation.  Food security information is for respondents who were 2 year old and over. 

The USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 14 was used to compute nutrient values for 1999-2000 intakes 3.   The Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies 1.0 (FNDDS) was used to compute nutrient values for 2001-2002 intakes 4. The Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies 2.0 (FNDDS) was used to compute nutrient values for 2003-2004 intakes 5.

Analytical Procedures

Overweight status was determined by using growth charts ( http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhanes/growthcharts/zscore/bmiagerev.xls) from the DHHS Centers for Disease Control and Health Promotion 6.  The 95th percentile of the Body Mass Index distribution by age and gender was used for individuals age 2 years old to 20 years old.  For individuals over 20 years old, their status was determined by using the Body Mass Index of 25 or over.

Values for the ARS  MyPyramid Equivalents Database7 are applied to food intakes from the NHANES 1999-2002. They are then compared to the MyPyramid recommendations for the suggested amounts of foods to consume from the basic food groups as issued by the 2005 Dietary Guidelines Advisory committee to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Agriculture.  Dry beans and peas for the purpose of this analysis are included in the vegetable group.  A weighted total number of individuals meeting the recommendation is computed and expressed as a percentage of the selected population. 

As with the CSFII, all states were not covered in the NHANES sample.  For those states, the estimate for the Census Division in which the state is located was assigned.

Map Gallery

The maps in the Map Gallery show estimates for the MyPyramid data and nutrient intakes.  States were grouped to indicated approximately the 25Th percentile for the lower range and the 75th percentile for the upper ranger of percentages. The salmon color always represents the higher values and gray the lowest. 

 

  1(EARs) and (AIs) are components of the (DRIs), Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine, 1997 - 2004

  2Dietary Reference Intakes, Applications in Dietary Assessment. Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2001.

  3U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. 2001. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 14. Nutrient Data Laboratory Home Page, http:///ba/bhnrc/ndl.

  4U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies, 1.0. 2004. Beltsville, MD:  Agricultural Research Service, Food Surveys Research Group http:///ba/bhnrc/fsrg.

  5U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies, 2.0. 2004. Beltsville, MD:  Agricultural Research Service, Food Surveys Research Group http:///ba/bhnrc/fsrg.

  6Centers for Disease Control and Health Promotion, CDC Growth Charts 2000. Hyattsville, MD:  National Center for Health Statistics, www.cdc.gov/growthcharts.

  7U.S. Department of Agriculture, MyPyramid Equivalent Database, 1.0. 2005. Beltsville, MD:  Agricultural Research Service, Food Surveys Research Group http:///ba/bhnrc/fsrg.