Origins and Evolution of the National Nutrient Databank Conference

Food composition tables are largely a twentieth century product. The early tables in America developed by W. O. Atwater in the 1890's at the Storrs Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station grew exponentially during the first half of the 20th century as one after another vitamin and mineral was found to be essential for life. As tables became more complex the user required better tools for calculating food composition. The rapid growth of computer applications in the mid to late 20th century allowed nutritionists to access these complex tables. This confluence of data and computer applications spawned an organization created specifically to study food composition databases.