Ingredients
An ingredient is a single food item with a nutrient profile attached to it. Ingredients are the building blocks for recipes and labels: every recipe is a list of ingredients with quantities, and every label pulls its nutrient values from an ingredient or a recipe.
Nutritionist Pro ships with a large library of source ingredients (shown as created by Axxya Systems) that you can search and use as they are. You can also create your own custom ingredients, shown under My Data, when the ingredient you need isn't in the source library or you want to store your own nutrient values for it.
Finding an ingredient
Open Search Ingredient(s) from the Ingredients dashboard's Edit Ingredient tile. The basic search box, Name, ID or FNDDS/NDB/CNF code contains, matches on name, ID, or code. For Axxya Systems ingredients, a term matches the start of the name, a whole word in the name, the start of the unique code, or the ID, so chick finds "Chicken breast" and kitchen does not. For your own ingredients under My Data, a term matches anywhere in the name.
A term made up only of digits also matches an ingredient's source code, the code it carries from the database it came from. Axxya Systems ingredients from the USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS) carry the eight-digit FNDDS food code, USDA Standard Reference ingredients carry the NDB number, and Canadian Nutrient File (CNF) ingredients carry the CNF code. Leading zeros do not matter, so 9040 and 09040 find the same ingredient. This is the quickest way to find the foods behind a 24-hour recall from a tool such as ASA24, which reports FNDDS codes.
Advance Search adds three tabs of filters:
- By region or date - data source (Axxya Systems or My Data), create/update date range, region, unique code.
- By source or tags - manufacturer source, manufacturer, references, discontinued status, common, generic.
- By nutrients or groups - include or exclude a food group, and filter by the value of specific nutrients (per serving or per 100 g).
You can save a set of search filters as a named saved search to reuse later, and customize which columns the results table shows with Column Views. The FNDDS / NDB / CNF Code column shows each ingredient's FNDDS, NDB, or CNF code and is off by default; it is also offered in the Add Ingredient dialog of recipes, diet records, and menus, in the label food pickers, and on the ingredient reports dashboard. The dashboard also keeps a My Recent 100 Ingredients list and a Recent Ingredient table for quick access without searching.
Creating an ingredient
From the Ingredients dashboard, choose Create Ingredient. The ingredient editor opens on the General tab. Type an Ingredient Name and the ingredient is created. The remaining tabs stay disabled until it exists.
Once the ingredient exists you can work through the tabs in any order:
- General - ingredient name, an optional image, food group, whether the ingredient is common or generic, manufacturer source (Axxya Systems or My Data), manufacturer, reference, and a unique code. An ingredient duplicated from the Axxya Systems library also shows its source code in a read-only field, labeled FNDDS code, USDA NDB number, or CNF code to match where it came from.
- Measures - the serving sizes the ingredient can be measured in. Add each measure with a serving amount, a unit, and the gram weight it corresponds to, plus an optional note.
- Nutrients - the nutrient values for the ingredient, shown for the typical portion you entered. You can base nutrient goals on the Axxya Systems template or your own, and use the Calorie Checker to confirm your calorie value matches what the macronutrients add up to. If you leave Dietary Fiber, Total blank and type a value for Soluble Fiber or Insoluble Fiber, the total is filled in from their sum and a note under the nutrient name says so. Change the total if the food contains other fiber. If the total you enter is lower than the two together, the note points that out, and labels and reports use the total.
- Statements - the common name and ingredient statement, entered per language if you work in more than one.
Your changes save as you type, so there is no Save button. The header shows Saved once everything required is in place, and Draft until then. A tab with something missing is marked with an asterisk, and hovering over it tells you what to add. A banner above the tabs lists what is still outstanding. Only two things are required: an ingredient name on General, and at least one measure with a serving amount, unit, and gram weight on Measures. The Nutrients and Statements tabs are optional.
Until the ingredient is complete it stays a draft and is marked with a warning icon in the Recent Ingredient list. It is published as soon as the required information is there, so you can stop partway and come back to the rest later.
Choose Generate Report in the header to report on the ingredient, or Save & Close to finish and return to the dashboard. The Nutrient Analysis report shows the ingredient's unique code and, for a library ingredient, its source code with the same label, in the PDF, DOCX, and XLSX downloads.
Editing an ingredient
Find the ingredient and choose Edit. This opens the same tabbed editor used to create an ingredient, with the existing values filled in.
Duplicating an ingredient
Choose Duplicate on an ingredient's row to create a copy of it. The copy is named after the original with "duplicate1" appended (and "duplicate2" and so on for further copies), so you can tell it apart before renaming it. A copy of an Axxya Systems ingredient keeps the original's source code, so you can still find it by its FNDDS, NDB, or CNF code.
Deleting an ingredient
Choose Delete on an ingredient's row and confirm. If the ingredient is currently used in a recipe, label, recipe book, menu, or client plan, Nutritionist Pro checks for that before deleting it.
Trial accounts have a limit on how many custom ingredients you can create, and on how many times each record can be edited. If you reach a limit, upgrade your account to continue.