OBJECTIVE:To compare values of energy and nutrients of 10 menus based on four softwares used for food consumption analysis in Brazil. METHODS:The selected softwares were NutWin, DietWin, DietPro and Virtual Nutri. Values of energy and eleven nutrients from 101 foods were analyzed, divided into 10 menus with established portion sizes. Differences in nutritional values obtained for the ten menus were tested using Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests. RESULTS: The programs varied in relation to number of foods (934 - 3,815), number of nutrients (28 - 144) and main sources used. Comparing to the other three softwares, significantly lower values of saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, iron and sodium were found in the DietPro software; significantly lower values of fiber were found in the Virtual Nutri software. CONCLUSION: The results of this study do not allow inferences related to the quality of the databases or indicate superiority of any one of the programs, to be used in practice by the nutrition professional or in research about food consumption. Results suggest the need of design revision and the nutrient database of softwares used in planning and analyzing food consumption.
Food; Databases; Diet surveys; Nutrition; Nutrients; Software
