Menus – CANDAT – Food Research

Foods that we eat and their relationship to health

Main menu

Food history questionnaires

These choices bring you to the recipe area of CANDAT.

These choices are documented separately. Click on either menu to activate the relevant page.
Questionnaire concepts
A subject’s nutrient profile, whether obtained from food recall information or from food history (questionnaire) information, is obtained by a simple arithmetic calculation. Each nutrient is the product of the food quantity consumed and the nutrient’s concentration in that food. The subject’s consumption is the sum of these products over the foods consumed in one day. Simple.

Problems:
In a recall… using the right food code to represent the food consumed and estimating the quantity consumed as accurately as possible. For a recall there are thousands of food codes to choose from, one of those is likely to represent fairly accurately the actual food consumed. The quantity of that food consumed can also be fairly accurately recorded as reported.
An example of a recall record would be “I ate a banana for breakfast”. The corresponding coding would have the food code for bananas and quantity being typically “one medium banana”. Hence, nutrient profile and quantity fairly accurately recorded and yield fairly good nutrient information.

In a questionnaire very few questions (usually less than 200, sometimes as few as 100) are used to represent historical intake. Every question is matched to a food with a nutrient profile representing the consumption for that question. A single food taken from a database used in recalls is not likely to be indicative of the group of foods represented by any one question in the questionnaire.

An example question could be “Do you consume soup?”. There are many soups with different nutrient profiles. Which one to use for the question as a nutrient profile? The soup code used should be a “composite” of all the possible soups. Which composite to use? One formed of the relative use all the soups consumed in the population in question. This information can be obtained from a food recall study of the population. This “composite” food could then be taken as the food representing the question’s nutrient profile… a good estimate on a population basis, probably not so good on an individual basis.

Composite food calculations from food recalls:
- Determine the unique food codes from all the recalls. Typically should be 400-600 food codes
- Divide those codes into food groups corresponding to questions you would want in the questionnaire
- Run the nutrient calculations on the recalls looking at food details by food group, sorted in descending order of food quantity in grams
- Create a recipe from each food group using the main foods in that group and their corresponding quantities as recipe ingredients
- Run the nutrient analysis on the recipe file and export each recipe and its nutrients per 100G to a food file
- Use this food file in your nutrient calculations of the relevant questions
Of course, this assumes you have the software to do all these calculations and conversions automatically. Doing the calculations manually or using a spreadsheet would be very onerous indeed.

The question of quantity to record is a bit more difficult. Usually such a question asks “How often do you consume this soup? Per day? Per week? Per month?”. No problem here, just a mathematical calculation.
The problem is in the next part of the estimate, the portion size. If the portion size is indicated precisely as in .5 cup, 1 cup, 2 cups… again, no problem. The composite soup can have a weighted density based on the density of the soups making up the composite. Cup weights can then be precisely calculated. 250 ml x 1.06 G/ml would give us a cup weight of 265 G.

Technique A:
How does one estimate portion sizes when the portion is not so precisely indicated? As in, .5 of a cup or less, .5 cup to 2 cups, 2 cups or more? One logical estimate would be to take the mid-point of the ranges.
For minimal consumption to .5 cups, use .25 cup;
for .5 to 2 cups, use 1.25 cups; for 2 cups or more use 4 cups (maximal consumption assumed to be 6 cups).

Technique B:
Much more intensely computational… not using the composite weighted densities…
An alternative to the above would be to use population based estimates. For each of the range of consumption, .5 cup or less, .5 cup to 2 cups and 2 cups and more, establish the distribution of consumption and calculate the median or average value. The median value would probably be best as it would negate the effects of outlier consumption.

In the population there is no consumption of the composite soup. The distributions have to be calculated for each and every soup making up the composite. One median per soup! For example for the lower range, less than .5 cup, how does one obtain a composite median from the individual soup medians? A weighted average of medians? Based on what weighting factor? The relative weight of the total weight of the soup consumed in the population (used to get the weighted density of the composite) or the relative weight of the total weight consumed in the range less than .5 cup? I would guess the latter to be the better estimate.

How does one establish the cut-off weight for .5 cup. The best value would be obtained by using the density for the soup whose median is being calculated. If the soup has a density of 1.06, one would look at all consumption of that soup of .5 cup or less or of 265G/2 = 132 G or less. The range .5 and above would start at 133G…

Should the basis of the distribution of consumption be each consumption of soup or the total soup consumption for the day? This question may not seem relevant here (each consumption would be the best information for the typical portion size) but what about other foods, such as milk in all its possible consumption portion sizes (see below)?

Assumptions:
Technique B assumes that all consumptions recorded in the population recalls are based on portions that are cups. In soups this is probably reasonable. What about questions that ask questions about foods such as milk. “Do you consume milk?” If yes, how many times per day/week/month and how many glasses? Recalls will record all kinds of consumptions of milk. In cereal, in coffee or tea, in glasses or cups. Each one of these will be converted to Grams. The total of those consumptions, on a daily basis, or on a per consumption basis, may not reflect typical population median gram values for typical glass or cup portion sizes.
Estimates of portion sizes for questionnaire data should be based on recall data collected using those same portion sizes.
Food frequency questionnaires

Sometimes studies need to identify patterns of food consumption in a large population. This is done, for instance, as part of a general population health survey. These are done on a fairly regular basis, usually funded by governments, to be proactive in the formulation of heath related polices. This saves our tax money in the long run.

Food history questionnaires are related to food recalls in that they collect information on commonly eaten foods. These questionnaires tend to be simpler in that they do not seek to know each individual food that was eaten. They ask questions like “When you eat pasta how much do you eat and do you eat it once a week, or 3-5 times a month”. You get the idea. Typically a food history questionnaire will have fewer than 100 such questions.

Before a questionnaire like this can be formulated it is wise to know what kinds of foods the population usually eats. A smaller number of individuals are asked what they ate recently, using the recall format. Using the example above, from the results of these recalls, a pattern of “pasta” consumption can be determined. A composite “pasta” food can then be created and used as the nutrient profile for the “pasta” question in the food history questionnaire.
SPSS or SAS or PSPP or … and CANDAT
SPSS, SAS (or other good statistical packages) is used to process Candat calculations into results for your scientific report.

At its most detailed Candat will produce data files consisting of:
- Subject code
- Date
- Day of Week code (0-6, where 0 is Sunday)
- Food Group code
- Meal code
- Food code
- Food description
- Nutrient variables (Weight of foods and all nutrients you selected at reporting)
The printed (text or PDF) file (hopefully you did not print to paper) can have all of the above information as well as basic statistics (for a quick perusal, not meant to be used instead of a statistical package).

Candat also produces computer readable files that can be directly read into statistical packages or spreadsheet software (such as Excel or Open or Libre Office Calc or ….) . . Your study will probably want to make use of daily average intake data, as representative as possible of your subject’s usual intake.

Where you have days of the week and weekend days you will probably want to make use week-weighted average daily intakes, where weekend days carry less weight than week days. These week-weighted averages are calculated in Candat but should be re-calculated in the statistical package so that you can make use of the proper variance calculations for weighted data.

Systematically then here are the procedures to follow for managing your data:
- Generate the data in Candat you need in a compact way. If you are not interested in data by meals or by food group or at the food detail level, leave those out of the Candat calculation.
- Read the Candat generated file into a statistical package
- Identify missing data as -1 (the Candat value at the food level. In Candat summaries (means) missing values are considered a zero. This makes sense because food databases do not spend much time analyzing nutrients that are not likely to exist in the food but they do not report them as having a value of zero (usually).
- Convert the Day of Week code to a weight to be used in week weighted calculations. In Candat we use 5 for codes 1 to 5 and 2 for codes 0 and 6.
- Weight the cases using the converted Day of Week variable
- Aggregate the cases. In most cases you will want to aggregate the data using Subject code and Date code as independent variables, an average weight code for the weighting variable (average will maintain the weight code for the day) and sum (which adds up all the contributions for that day) for the nutrient variables. At this point your data is ready for statistical processing.
- Apply exploratory statistics to all your variables and make sure the data seems reasonable
- Merge the data variables that identify your subject variables. This may be from a file produced externally from Candat or from the Candat Description file. In either case you must make sure to merge on the Subject codes.
- Compare your subjects to your control groups (subject variables) using statistical procedures and save the results.
Report these results, write the other sections of the paper and you are done.
Week-weighted Averages in CANDAT

When expressing and comparing results of multi-day (3 day commonly) food recalls one tends to use the average daily intake as a measure of a subject’s intake. Of course, 7 day recalls will give more accurate estimates of this daily intake and the accuracy will increase if all the days of a week are used. The assumption here is that subjects will eat differently on different days with the greatest variability been between week days and weekend days.

Rather than simply computing an average daily intake one may get more accurate results by weighting the days of the week and the weekend days differently.

A weight of 5 for each week day and a weight of 2 for weekend days should allow us to calculate week-weighted averages for any number of recalls. Of course, for recalls without weekends this would just be a day of the week average and vice-versa.

The week-weighted average could be calculated as follows:

x_w = (∑ w_i × x_i) ÷ ∑ w

where x_w is the weighted average with x_i as the daily intakes, and _i is 1 – 5 (codes for days of the week) or 0,6 codes for weekend days corresponding to Sunday and Saturday respectively. w_1-5 would then be 5 and w_0,6 would be 2.

with a variance of

Var(x_w) = Var(x) × ((∑ w_i²) ÷ (w_i)²)

where Var(x) would be the variance over all the days of the food intakes for the subject.
Course & Documentation

Please follow the outline in the column on the right to navigate through food research techniques and documentation on using Candat with those techniques.

Please enjoy the site and all its information.
Recipes & CANDAT
Recipes are another source of food information. Not all foods can be found in food databases, There is a limitless number of recipes and thus a limitless number of foods. You only need to look at the number of recipe books that are available to have an idea of the number of foods that are possible.

A good study needs to be able to identify commonly used recipes in the target populations and find suitable foods to code for those recipes. Where there are no suitable codes, the ingredients of the recipe need to be identified and a suitable food defined from these ingredients. CANDAT has tools to do this and to manage the consequent data

The following are the two menu selections needed manage the tasks in the recipe module.

This from the main CANDAT menu and

this from the choices then presented:

The standard startup choices below are presented after the selection of a task and

are explained in Appendix A (click on the screen to see the explanation). The prompts that follow activating “START the task” control the options for the task in question and are explained in the appropriate task chapter.

The list of tasks in the task menu area are listed in the order one would use them. More detailed information about each task can be found in that task’s chapter.
1. 400 Recipe file maintenance – this is where recipes are defined, copied, modified, listed, etc.
2. 410 Recipe file validation – once recipes have been created this task validates that the ingredients exist and that proper units have been specified for quantities
3. 420 Recipe nutrient calculations – nutrients are calculated for each recipe and listed on a total and per ingredient basis. Ratings of recipes based on system Recommended Daily Intakes (RDI) are listed here as well
4. 430 Recipe to food file conversion – to use recipe data as part of subject recalls or even as ingredients in other recipes, they must be made into foods using food files. The foods in these food files can then be used as input to subject data or recipe data and managed like regular food files
5. 100 Food file maintenance – this task is part of the food files module. It is included here as a convenient link to food files once recipes have been converted to foods
6. 440 Recipe reports by types – part of the definition of foods has optional fields which define attributes of the recipe. The reports in this task allow listing of recipes that satisfy those attributes.
Task 400 – Recipe Maintenance
This task begins by prompting for the file name. Files that exist already will be listed and the one desired selected. If the new… choice is selected a new file name needs to be entered. New file names must start with a letter, have no spaces within the name and have 8 characters (letters or numbers) or less.

Recipe files can contain the definition of many recipes. Each recipe is identified by a code of up to 7 digits. As recipe files may eventually be converted to foods it is a good idea to use the same convention for their codes as are used for food codes.

A food code is entered here. If the code exists already, the next prompt will be the options prompt where the recipe information can be modified. Otherwise a message will appear prompting for the creation of a recipe. Again, the options prompt will appear allowing the entry of recipe information.

The various parts of a recipe can be defined using the recipe options listed here. The ingredient editing options change the same ingredient data, there are two ways of editing these for convenience.

Attributes define a recipes profile. There can be two preparations for each recipe to be used as desired. Some will use preparion one for imperial units and preparation two for metric units. Some will use preparation one for a recipe with a small number of servings and preparation two for a much larger number of servings. Each preparation has its own profile and its own quantities for each ingredients. Other uses of preparations are up to the imagination and needs of the user. Of course, a single preparation can be used as well.

The fields defining a recipe are as follows:
1. Recipe name: A description for the recipe. Remember this will also be used as a description for the food if the recipe data is ever converted to a food.
2. Remarks: Any remark specific to this recipe. It serves as additional documentation to the recipe and is not used in conversion to a food and is an optional field.
3. Hints line 1::Any hint specific to this recipe. It serves as additional documentation to the recipe and is not used in conversion to a food. Also an optional field.
4. Target % H2O: This is used to compensate for cooking method. The recipe nutrient data will be adjusted to force this % moisture in the final recipe. It consists of a single number like 8.5 or 10 or 33.8, etc. It this field is not used for target moisture it can be used for additional hint data and is an optional field.
5. Where used:,Product Group:,Main Product: These are arbitraty and optional descriptions used to further define the profile of recipes. To use these fields as selectors in future report groupings a consistent set of descriptions must be developed and used.
6. Number of servings: A number, required to calculate nutrients per serving.
7. Serving size: Specified in grams.
8. Unit of measure: This is always 0, the unit code for grams.
9. Density: If known, is entered here as a number of grams per 100 ml. Is used in conversion to food. A food with a density can be used with volumetric units.
10. Dates: The date created is automatically entered here. The other dates are optional and can serve as record keeping to monitor the progress of the recipe through its phases. Dates are entered using the format yyyymmdd.
11. Recipe Type Code: These codes are arbitraty and optional and can be used as selectors in future report groupings. This requires a consistent set of descriptions to be developed and used
12. Preparation Time (mins): A number of minutes, again, used as selectors in future report groupings
Ingredients are inserted and modified using either of the two following panels. Fields describing each ingredient are:
1. Ingredient code: Ingredient codes come from food files and must exist there before they are used. Food codes for ingredients are found using the F6 information key with a keyword search term. Multiple keywords can be used. If seperated by spaces each keyword must be present, separated by commas, one or the other keyword can be present. The result of the search is a list of foods satisfying the search parameters. Choosing the desired food inserts its code in the ingredient code field.
2. Unit code: This code is specific to the ingredient and a list of possible codes are accessed using the F6 information key. Choosing the desired unit code inserts its code int he unit field.
3. Quantity: This is the quantity of the ingredient required for the recipe in “unit code” units.
4. The E/F and the % Yield fields are not presently used and are reserved. The concept behind the E/F field was as an “each” parameter as in each of the servings would have this quantity of the ingredient. The total quantity of the ingredient would thus depend on the recipe’s profile information.
The above panel consists of multiple lines of entry per ingredient. As you tab from field to field you will see the space highlighted for each.

The above panel consists of a single line of entry per ingredient. Again, As you tab from field to field you will see the space highlighted for each.

The preparation panel is used to describe the preparation of the recipe. It is mostly meant to be used in managing cookbooks and is not used in the conversion of recipes to food codes. It consists of arbitrary text and it too is an optional field.

Once all the data has been entered pressing the Esc key will save all the recipe data automatically and navigate back to the previous step or menu.
Recipe – Validation

One of the purposes of creating recipes is to be able to calculate their nutrient profile. If you were doing this manually you would look for the nutrient profile of each ingredient and sum each ingredient’s nutrient contribution. From this you would get an estimate of the recipe’s nutrient profile.

Validating a recipe is a step that ensures, in an automated system, that all ingredients are present in the food database. The nutrient calculation of the recipe can then proceed automatically. Validation will report either that the ingredient does not exist or that the units used to quantify the ingredient are not valid. In either case one must correct the mistake before instructing the program to calculate the recipe values.
Recipe – management
A database of recipes needs to be managed. Management means the following:
- Being able to list the recipes (simple code and description only)
- Being able to list the recipes with contents. This allows verification of information entered to ensure accuracy
- Being able to copy recipes to other recipe databases to save re-entry
- Being able to delete recipes no longer relevant
- Being able to copy a recipe into another recipe. This allows creating variations on a recipe without having to re-enter all the duplicated information
This management is best done by computer programs. Recipe database files can then be easily stored, backed-up and shared with others.
Recipe – Input
There is more to recipe input than just entering the ingredients and their quantities. Below is a list of requirements to define recipes. (R) indicates a required item, (O) indicates an optional item but useful if you are going to be creating a large collection of recipes for many purposes.
- (R) A recipe database. If a database does not exist, it must be easy to create one.
- (R) Recipe code. The unique identification for the recipe. One can build in some information in this code, for instance, all 100 recipes could be salads, all 500 recipes could be deserts, etc.
- (R) Recipe description. This is the name of the recipe.
- (R) Ingredients. A list of ingredients with quantities. Each ingredient is a food code from the active food database. Quantities of each ingredient are specified in grams.
- (R) Number of servings. How many servings does this recipe produce.
- (R) Serving size. This can usually be derived from the sum of the ingredients weights and the number of servings. If the recipe loses moisture in cooking the serving size will not be correct and an actual serving size will need to be inserted.
- (O) Preparation. A description of how to prepare the recipe. This is only needed if one is creating recipes for others to use. It is not required for the calculation of nutrients.
- (O)Many other attributes could be collected for recipe documentation, such as remarks; a couple of hints lines; where the recipe is used; its main product, its product group, its type, its density, various dates such as date created, tested, analyzed, converted and preparation time.
This defines a single recipe which then becomes a single entry in the database.
First Nations Food, Nutrition and Environment Study

We are a multi-organization research team (University of Northern British Columbia, University of Ottawa, Université de Montréal, Assembly of First Nations and Health Canada) that has used CANDAT since 2008. So far, we have used CANDAT to enter over 5000 single and repeated recalls. The software is easy to learn and use. One of our students doing data entry mentioned that CANDAT was easier and more friendly to use than another program he had been using. We are able to incorporate traditional foods and recipes from our study easily into the database. The software developer is always open to suggestions from CANDAT users to facilitate data entry, such as viewing the food description when reviewing data entry and automatic repeat of past key word searches. Above all, the technical support provided by Godin London Incorporated (Gaetan) is always top-notch. He is prompt to answer questions and to solve problems. Recently, we requested a new feature which would enable users to view the food description when reviewing data entry and they were able to do this within a few days. Also, when validation of a dietary file with a more recent version of the Canadian Nutrient File was needed, they were able to write a program that allowed the file to be imported back into CANDAT (from SAS).

This was all done under the no-charge support provided with all CANDAT licences. I would highly recommend CANDAT to any nutrition researcher. Gaetan always strives to adapt CANDAT’s capabilities to suit its users.

Amy Ing, M.Sc.
Data Analyst
First Nations Food, Nutrition and Environment Study
www.fnfnes.ca
University of Guelph

I have used Candat for many years for the analysis of 24 hour recall data, and for the development and subsequent analysis of food frequency questionnaires for two different studies. The range of analytic options provided by Candat, and the fact that it is based on the latest version of the Canadian Nutrient File, are key features.
Assistance with the development of FFQs and translation of responses into the format that can be analyzed with Candat is available on an as needed and timely basis. Response is usually within 24 hours. And, there is no problem asking for help.
I have used Candat for years because of GLI’s knowledge and continuous efforts to make the software ever more powerful.

Susan Evers PhD
Professor
Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition
University of Guelph
Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1
University of PEI

CANDAT is superior to other nutrient analysis programs because it is designed to accommodate the diverse needs of researchers. Being able to handle food recalls and records and food frequency questionnaires in the same program, to create user files of special food items not included in the CNF and to easily import files into statistical analysis packages makes it unique in Canada. Most of all, having a support person who has extensive experience with nutrition researchers makes CANDAT an easy choice for me.

I have been working with CANDAT since 1984, and have also tried a number of other nutrient analysis programs. I keep coming back to CANDAT for two reasons: the support with CANDAT is superb. I have emailed Gaetan and received a phone call within minutes. He “knows his stuff” and can pinpoint and resolve any problems or challenges quickly. The program he uses to take over the computer is amazing and very efficient.

Since he has worked with a number of academics in nutrition, he understands research and the special needs researchers have. My research group had a challenging task a few years ago which involved adapting an American Food Frequency questionnaire for Canadian use and adding data on dietary nitrates. This was a very complex and time consuming task, and Gaetan was an active participant in the research process. When we were under time pressures to complete the analysis, Gaetan committed time and was able to get us the data when we needed it. He goes beyond a technical role, and sometimes poses questions which I don’t think of, preventing problems before they happen.

Dr. Jennifer Taylor, Associate Professor & Chair
Department of Family & Nutritional Sciences
Dalton Hall 204
University of Prince Edward Island
550 University Ave, Charlottetown PEI C1A 4P3 (902)
566-0475 Fax (902) 628-4367
McGill University

We use CANDAT because it is the best software giving access to the Canadian Nutrient File (CNF) that we have been able to find. It allows us to structure our data to provide the results that we need. For example, we have made consistent use of the food grouping capability that provides us with nutrients from these food groups so we can write manuscripts pertaining not only to the nutrients but also the food sources in the Canadian population. Support from the software provider is exceptional and very responsive to user needs. For example, when Health Canada removed some units from the Canadian nutrient file that were essential to the data entry, Godin London Incorporated extracted these from an older version of the CNF and added these back to CANDAT. Godin London Incorporated has also responded to our needs by adding functions that save us time when doing corrections and data cleaning.

Louise Johnson-Down
Survey Coordinator Food habits of Canadians
McGill University 21,111 Lakeshore
Ste Anne de Bellevue QC
H9X 3V9
Tel:514-398-7808
Fax: 514-398-7739
Essential CANDAT information
This section explains the CANDAT software environment. You need to have a feeling for the following three areas:
1. Navigating CANDAT, how to get to and start the tasks;
2. How to respond to typical prompts within the task:
  1. for selecting database files;
  2. for selecting individual records within those files;
  3. for printing;
3. The computer structure of folders and sub-folders that support CANDAT
CANDAT Environment (GRASP)

GRASP (General Reporting and Application Support Package) is an environment which contains standard mechanisms for communicating between the user and the computer. This allows for consistency within applications and is the background within which CANDAT is defined.

GRASP assumes a well defined user area on the disk (usually created at installation) and a structure of modules and tasks. Modules identify broad areas of functionality. There are modules for food files, nutrient tables, category (food group) definitions and RNI tables, subject files, recipe files, food frequency (history) questionnaires, and file maintenance utilities. Tasks define the functianlity of CANDAT and together, define the tasks required for food intake research.

Menu navigation

The basic functional unit of an application is the task. There is a two level menu structure that directs the user to the task required. The first level lists general areas of the application., the second lists the tasks. We will use CANDAT as an example application to show menus. The first and A second level menu of CANDAT are shown here:

To choose a particular item in a menu just cursor down to that item and press Enter or type the first character ot the item. In this case, the “4” was pressed which immediately brought up the Recipe menu. Pressing Enter on the first item in the Recipe menu, in this case 400 Recipe file maintenance, essentially Task400 in the CANDAT system, would activate that task and bring up the following menu, a menu common to all the tasks.

Task startup menu

Once a task has been chosen and it has been read in by the computer, the following menu is displayed:

At the end of a task, the same menu appears again. You can choose at this point to restart the task by choosing the first option again.

There are two ways to exit from CANDAT. One is temporary and leaves CANDAT in memory, ready to be reactivated. This is the EXIT to DOS choice. To return to CANDAT after choosing this alternative, simply type EXIT from within DOS and you will be returned to CANDAT. Do not try to start a new session of CANDAT if you exited this way. You will quickly use up all of your memory and may not be able to start another session if you do so. If you choose QUIT and return to the operating system, CANDAT is released from memory and terminates normally.

Data entry prompts

CANDAT prompts you for information in the form of a list of choices or tables. Lists are referred to as menus, not to be confused with menus used in restaurants. CANDAT will also prompt you for single field entries as in food codes, date of recalls, etc. An entry of a blank code or a 0 serves to cancel the prompt.
1. There are three kinds of menus presented in CANDAT.
  1. The usual menu is a list of items. You are expected to make a single choice. That is done by moving the selection bar (cursor) to the choice and pressing the enter key. Another way of accomplishing the same thing is to enter the first letter or number of the choice. Pressing the Esc (escape) key chooses the last item in the list or exits menu selection without making a choice.
  2. Another menu type gives you a series of Yes/No items which you toggle by pressing the Y or N keys. You can also make all the choices Y or all N by pressing the Alt key with your selection of Y or N.
  3. The third menu selection consists of a single field at the bottom of the screen. This field usually expects a record key (in the case of a food database, this would be the food code, in the case of a recipe database, this would be the recipe code). The F6 key, found in the row of F keys at the top of your keyboard, serves as an information key. Pressing it will give you various options, from a simple list of codes that you can enter in the field to a search bar in which you can put keywords that are found in the description of the item. In either case you can choice the desired item from the list of items that appears and the proper code will be entered in the field automatically. Keyword searches are very simple. If you put in two keywords, seperated by a space, both must be present in the description in order for the search to be successful. If you wish one item or the other or both, seperate the keywords with a comma.
2. There are two kinds of table entry in CANDAT.
  1. The usual table entry allows you to enter information within each cell of a table. Some cells will only allow numbers, others, both numbers and characters. Whichever is allowed will be obvious from the context. If you try to enter a character and it does not appear in the cell, the cell is probably expecting a number. Blank cells are considered filled with characters and you will not be allowed to move out of a number cell until you insert a number. A 0 is usually sufficient. If this entry resulted in an extra line being added to the table, it can usually be removed using Alt F4 (see below). Some of these tables grow automatically as you try to enter another row. Pressing the Enter key in the last cell of the last row of a table activates this feature. You cannot simply move to a row that does not exist by using cursor controls. Other rows can be inserted and deleted in these “growing” tables by using Alt F3 to add lines and Alt F4 to delete lines. To exit after having entered your information, press the Esc key. You can move from cell to cell by pressing Tab (or back Tab) and by using the cursor control keys. You can also use Ctrl Home and Ctrl End to go to the first and last cells respectively. In some contexts the function keys F1 and F6 will provide you with additional information which is just shown (in the case of F1) or serves as input based on your choice in the case of F6.
  2. The other type of table entry allows editing of a full line at a time. This is a free form type of entry. and you need to be careful of the layout of the information as it is not controlled by the software. To exit after having entered this information you must press Ctrl E or Ctrl Q. Ctrl E will save your entries, Ctrl Q will quit without saving your entries. CANDAT has very few of these types of table entry.
Printing reports

Reports produced by CANDAT can be sent to a printer, a file or both and, in the case of subject calculated data (task 340), to documented files. CANDAT is configured to print to LPT1 (or text files if you wish). The printer definition within CANDAT which ensures printing to LPT1 is called PRNTLPT1. It can be set in Activate System Utilities menu, under Activity Options menu. Activity Options is available as a menu item in each Module or Task selection menu as well as in the Task startup menu. This is explained in more detail under those menus.

In order to use your Windows printers you need a software such as DOS2USP which captures the LPT1 port. It can be obtained here as a trial version and as a permanent version for a very low cost. The advantage of printing to Windows printers is that you can create PDF files from CANDAT output and be better able to manage the large volumes of data produced. A configuration of that program which works well with CANDAT is shown here:

Once installed and these settings defined (do not forget to click on Save Settings) you can forget about the DOS2USP program. It will always be on your computer, will start when you start Windows and will just be used with CANDAT or some other DOS program you may have on your computer. Set it up once and forget about it.

Paper definitions

CANDAT uses paper size to layout reports for printing. Please note that this paper size is independent from the one above. Paper size is a menu item under Activity Options (see above). Paper size is always defined in portrait mode, even if you wish to print in landscape mode (sideways). CANDAT determines the size of the report in relation to the size of the paper available. A few reports cannot print on paper 8.5 in. wide. These reports need to be printed on wider paper or need to be printed in landscape mode. When CANDAT detects this situation, it prompts you to change your paper definition so that it can continue. You must then switch to landscape (if you have landscape capabilities on your printer) or specify wider paper.

Printer definitions

The DOS2USB program allows you to define the print device (which can be a .PDF file), the font and the font size to use for the report. This printer definition works in conjunction with CANDAT to provide the printed (or visual) representation of the reports. CANDAT defines the width of the report and the length of the pages based on its paper definition (see above). DOS2USB makes this definition fit on a page or on the screen.

Most of the reports in CANDAT are presented in a table form. A fixed font (such as Courier New) is preferable as it uses characters that are all the same width. An “M” has the same width as an “I”. A “1″ has the same width as a “0″. This allows columns of data and numbers to line up properly and be easier to read. Font size is set here too. Please note that these sizes are in CPI (Characters per inch) and not in dots per inch as in windows. A larger CPI results in smaller characters and vice versa. A bit of experimenting with the paper setups of CANDAT and the printer setups of DOS2USB will have you producing beautiful reports very quickly.

Output to text files

Most of the reports in CANDAT which can print on paper can also print to files. You are prompted for the file name and the file is created in your user area (see Structure – Users, below). Use eight characters only for file names, no spaces and no special characters. CANDAT will append an extension of .TXT to these files so that they are readily identifiable. All such files will be created in the user folder identified at CANDAT installation.

You have a choice of printing with printer control codes or not. Printing without control codes makes the assumption you will be importing the information into a word processing or other type of program using “cut-and-paste”. Titles and headers are then also not printed. If you wish to print to file with titles and headers and no control codes, specify printer type “none” and print to files specifying control codes. The “none” printer type does not output printer control codes.

Output to save files

Reports that are the result of nutrient calculations can be output to files that you can either open with a word processor or import into a spreadsheet environment (like Excel) or adatabase environment (like SAS, SPSS or other statistical package) . You are prompted for a file name and different files are created using those names in your user SAVE area. Use eight characters only for file names, no spaces and no special characters. CANDAT will append various extensions to these files so that they are readily identifiable. All such files will be created in the user folder, sub-folder SAVE, identified at CANDAT installation.

Structure – Users

CANDAT is licensed on a per computer basis. CANDAT may be installed on only those computers and networks for which it is licensed. It is possible for multiple users to use CANDAT simultaneously when installed in a network. You are only allowed the number of simultaneous users negotiated in your purchase agreement.

Any one license (on one computer) can and is allowed to support any number of users. Users are created within CANDAT using a NEWUSER2 creation process. This process creates a folder for the user, specific to the disk (memory stick or other USB device) drive specified at creation. Note that CANDAT records the drive on which the user is created. Users must function on the drive specified at creation in order for CANDAT to be able to function properly. This is particularly important in a laboratory structure where users may connect their memory sticks to a USB port and create their own environment. CANDAT creates an icon with the particulars of the user drive. A user can manually change the drive in the properties of this icon to correspond to the drive of their memory stick, if used on another computer. For instance, a user could create an environment on their memory stick under the “F” drive in the laboratory environment and then need to use it on the “G” drive of another computer.

User folders store food files, category files, subject files, questionnaire files, save files, and recipe files. For a user to use another user’s files, those files must be copied to the relevant user folder. There is no user identification on the files themselves. This structure also allows the same (project) name to be used for each of the food, category, subject, etc. files. Please note that the user structure and files is never deleted by CANDAT or by re-installation of CANDAT. It is always prudent, however, to fully backup the user structure and its files.

Structure – Modules and Tasks

CANDAT has a unique structure for Users and for Food files. The actual work performed by CANDAT is organized in a structure of Modules and Tasks.

Modules identify broad areas of functionality. There are modules for food files, nutrient tables, category (food group) definitions and RNI tables, subject files, recipe files, food frequency (history) questionnaires, and file maintenance utilities.

Tasks are found within modules and provide the detailed interaction with the User. It is within tasks that subject data is entered, recipes and food files are created, nutrient data is calculated, reports are produced, etc. The titles of the modules are self explanatory as are the titles of the tasks. Follow the prompts within the tasks and you should be able to accomplish your work with ease.
Introduction

This section shows you how to install CANDAT and the first steps to actually using it. For more information please use the contact us link on this website.
Preface

These links give you some background on CANDAT and a bit of an idea as to how you should publish your findings.
Publications

Please refer to the links below for more information.
Food and Nutrient Research
Publish that nutrient data
Many moons ago (do people still use this kind of expression) I was involved in an energy balance study. I needed to estimate the energy expenditure of a small primitive population and somebody else was responsible for determining energy intake. I did my part but soon found that the food intake was not easy to estimate. There was a grossly inadequate nutrient database for that population and the software just did not exist, then, to make this a reasonable project.

A brief look at the requirements for nutrition research immediately shows that it is not as simple as just taking a food quantity and multiplying it by its nutrient concentrations to get nutrient intake.

Typical food databases have over 50 nutrients per food. A person eating 20 different foods a day over three days (a typical recall) would give rise to 50 x 20 x 3 = 3,000 calculations. A small study would have 100 or more participants, 100 x 3,000 = 300,000 calculations.

Then we may want to separate these results
- by meals (up to 7 meals a day)
- by food groups (15 groups)
- by day of the week (weekend vs working days)
Whoops, we need a computer! …and software … and research protocol

We take for granted that the software will do accurate calculations, it is how the data leading to those calculations is stored and how easy it is to export the calculations that is essential. Food research calculations give rise to many variables (one per nutrient, meal code, day code, date, food group code, subject variables, etc) so you need some kind of statistical software as well. There are many choices here (SAS, SPSS, some open source) but you need a way to get your calculations into them. Full export capabilities are needed as an integral part of the software.

Click the link below to get software that satisfies all those criteria.

You are a scientist (we talk later about You are a teacher or You are a student)

If you are gathering food intake data you are a scientist. You either want to survey what people are eating or you want to relate what they are eating to something else like a particular ailment (heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, etc.) or to their general well-being.

In science we compare groups. Is one group better than another? Two things can affect the answer:
- the size of the difference
- the accuracy of the measuring tools
If the size of the difference is greater than the variability of the measuring tools then we know the groups are different.

In nutrition we are looking for small differences. To see them we need accurate tools. The tools we have are
- food intakes and
- food databases.
From those two we calculate nutrient values.

Food intake variability can be made as small as possible by training interviewers and creating code books which ensure that different interviewers make the same decisions about foods and quantities eaten when faced with similar situations.

Food databases are now readily available. In science it is important that reported results can be repeated. Standard food databases must be used. If one uses the same techniques and the same databases one should get the same results.

There are many food databases available. Popular and well supported databases include the most recent releases from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDASR25) and from Health Canada (Canadian Nutrient File – CNF).

Not all foods are available from just those two sources. It is important to document foods that come from other, non-standard, sources. A good system will provide tools to separate these sources. It will also allow the use of new foods, either obtained from research (internet sources) or created by recipes. The good news Software does exist to make this easier, even enjoyable….

What do you need in software? In short, a comprehensive system that helps you through all the steps of gathering and calculating nutrient data and then allows you to send that information to statistical software to answer those questions about differences between groups. …and in a way that makes your answers credible and reproducible. No small task!

Software needs to:
1. Manage your foods:
  - in the standards and the extra foods needed
  - in listings to view food nutrients in various ways (sorted, selected, calculated ratios)
  - in listings to create code books
2. Manage your configuration tables – nutrients and food groups:
  - in nutrient tables
  - in food group definitions
  - in recommended nutrient intake (RNI) values
3. Manage your subjects:
  - in intake data (food recalls)
  - in data validation (food codes, units, outlier values)
  - in calculating and reporting nutrient values
  - in producing RNI reports
4. Manage your recipes:
  - in ingredient data
  - in intake data (food recalls)
  - in calculating and reporting nutrient values
  - in converting recipes to foods for use in intake data
  - in producing reports (by recipe type, preparation time, etc.)
5. Manage your questionnaires:
  - in questionnaire definitions
  - in intake data (food history questionnaires)
  - in converting questionnaire intake data to suject intake data
  - in data validation (food codes, units, outlier values)
  - in calculating and reporting nutrient values
This software exists, here is the entry page to it. (click on the image)Each one of the topics above is dealt with in the software… and these are the entry pages to those topics: (click on the images)

Of course, behind each task are features which allow you to input and manipulate your data. Eventually you export this data, relate it to the objectives of your study, document your methods, report your results, discuss the earth shattering conclusions, publish it all and wait for your Nobel prize. To get this software

Candat is available as a trial version. The trial version has all the features of the purchased version. If you need an extension to the trial please just get in touch with us and we can discuss it.

When you are ready to purchase Candat simply follow the links on the website pages. Press one of the buttons below. To learn more

This page has links to the home page of the website documenting Candat and food research. Please use those links if you need more specific details about the features and benefits of using Candat. To access the online course you need only register or download one of the trial versions and login. You are a teacher

As a teacher you may need to teach students how to do food & nutrient research. Some of our most active users were students using Candat for their theses.

The modules in Candat and their corresponding Tasks are an excellent structure for a curriculum. From the first class the students can be entering intake data and seeing nutrient reports.

The mechanics aside you can then dig into the thorny issues of food and nutrient research:
- How was the intake data collected?
- Is it a true representation of this individual’s usual intake?
- What do you do about foods that are not in the database?
- How many days of intake do you need for a better representation?
- What changes during the day, week, season are you not capturing?
- What are the advantages or disadvantages of self-reporting over recall interviews?
- When would you use food history questionnaires?
- What kinds of questions would you put in the questionnaires?
- What is the difference in nutrient results obtained from recalls as opposed to food history questionnaires?
- Would you get better questionnaires if the questions were based on actual recalls obtained from individuals in the target population?
You are a student (please see You are a teacher, above)

…and last, but not least, you need expert help backed by many years of experience in both nutrient research and software. That support comes with the software, please see the testimonials.
Features & Benefits
Defined by its depth
- Candat is a full featured system for food intake research. Candat is completely rigorous and has been used and referenced in scientific journals.
- All the features listed here are included in Candat, no need to purchase separate modules.
- The modules and tasks in Candat can also form the basis for a complete course on how to do food intake analysis.
- Candat has innovations not found in other systems, for instance the concept of week-weighted averages where weekend days and work days can be considered differently in reporting daily averages. Candat also supports user-defined meals (up to 999) to allow the precise definition of when a food was eaten. Of course, all this data can be exported to a spreadsheet program or a statistical analysis package.
- Of course, Candat can also be used for any individual or clinical patient or client nutrient profile. Only a subset of its capabilities would be used. Its depth can also be used here to give more detailed analysis of a clients record, for instance, nutrient intakes could be reported by food groups or by user defined meals.
- Candat is so complete that only rarely do users need features that are not already included.
- No other software has its depth for satisfying the requirements of scientific research.
Features

Benefits
1. Food files maintenance and listings
  
  100 Food file maintenance
  
  CREATE/EDIT a food file
  
  LIST the codes and names of foods in a food file
  
  ANALYZE a food file for nutrient distributions
  
  110 Food file listing – Nutrients & ratios
  
  120 Food file listing – Other data
  
  Source of food
  
  Conversion factors
  
  All components
  
  SINGLE Food file listing
  
  COMBINED Food file listing
  
  User Food file
  
  Institute Food file
  
  Master Food file
  
  User/Institute/Master Food files
  
  Institute/Master Food files
This is key…
- Nutrient data on foods is the basis for all calculations. The source of that data is crucial. In science we talk of validity and reliability. You can only be sure of valid data by considering its source. The USA and Canadian governments have spent millions of dollars to ensure the validity of their food data.
- Large databases that mix supplier data with standard data bring an element of risk to its validity. Some suppliers use government data as their own or, even worse, use approximations. Reliability is the ability to replicate a study. Difficult to do if you do not know how the original study’s food data was selected.
- To ensure validity and reliability Candat:
  
  uses standard government issued food databases;
  
  provides extensive features to manage food data;
  
  provides a tiered (master, institute, user) food file structure so that any food changed or added can be fully documented;
  
  master (standard) food files can be swapped in and out as their data only changes with new releases;
  
  provides lists which can serve as the basis for coding manuals so that coding among data entry personnel can be consistent
1. Table and category definition
  
  200 Nutrient table maintenance
  
  LIST GLOBAL nutrient table
  
  EDIT STANDARD nutrients for listings and reports
  
  LIST STANDARD nutrients for listings and reports
  
  EDIT ADDITIONAL options for reports
  
  EDIT GLOBAL nutrient table
  
  LIST ADDITIONAL options for reports
  
  220 R.N.I. & R.D.I. definitions maintenance
  
  R.N.I. Individual classification table
  
  R.N.I. Classification vs. nutrient table
  
  R.N.I. Lactation adjustments table
  
  R.N.I. Pregnancy adjustments table
  
  R.D.I. Ratings table
  
  R.D.I. Amounts table
  
  210 Food group definitions maintenance
Along with food databases, nutrient information is paramount. Candat allows you to configure the information for each nutrient:
- its long and short descriptions
- the number of decimal points expressed in reports
- nutrients can be added at will
An advantage of this is the addition of a nutrient representing number of portions per 100g. Using this field in your reports allows the calculation of number of portions consumed per food group. Very useful for automatically calculating Food Guide servings in your analysis.

Candat handles food groups very well. Along with the standard food groups (read government) Candat allows the definition of sets of food groups. A set of food groups is contained in a category file and food groups are defined as collections of individual food codes or ranges of food codes.

Once defined, category files can be used to add extra dimensions to reports and listings. You can really allow your imagination free rein in the way you look at results and create these extra food group variables.

Some reports use recommended and required nutrient levels to compare to individual subject results or to validate input data (outliers). Candat comes with a set of values but also allows you to set your own, on a per
nutrient basis, with:
- expected value
- low value
- high value
1. Subject files maintenance and reports
- 300 Subject file maintenance
  
  ADD/EDIT subjects
  
  Find food code in Subject intake and edit that day
  
  CHANGE subject codes
  
  DELETE subjects from file
  
  CHANGE subject description labels
  
  Change meal codes and descriptions
  
  Save meals codes table to OBJS.SF
  
  Retrieve meals codes table from OBJS.SF
  
  LIST subject summary data
  
  LIST subject summary data and diversity
  
  LIST subject codes and data (multiple files)
  
  CREATE a table of unique food codes in file
  
  COPY subjects to another subject file
  
  Set Questionnaire mode flag
- 310 Subject file validation
- 330 Primary analysis for nutrient reports
- 336 Primary analysis range error checking
- 340 Secondary analysis – reports
  
  —REPORT LEVELS TO BE INCLUDED—
  
  ALL Selected SUBJECTS.
  
  B DAYS in a given SUBJECT.
  
  C MEALS in a given DAY, SUBJECT.
  
  D FOODS in a given DAY, SUBJECT.
  
  E FOODS in a given MEAL, DAY, SUBJECT
  
  —REPORT OPTIONS—
  
  F PRINT DESCRIPTIVE INFORMATION of each subject.
  
  G SEND FOOD TOTALS to save file.
  
  H SORT REPORTS by concentration of user-specified nutrient
  
  I INCLUDE DAY-OF-WEEK-WEIGHTED AVERAGES in “B” report.
  
  J SEND DAY-OF-WEEK-WEIGHTED AVERAGES to save file.
  
  K FOOD GROUP breakdowns to be included in reports.
  
  L SUPPRESS SUBTOTAL LINES with no group information.
  
  M SEND Food detail to save file…
- 350 R.N.I. – reports
This is where Candat shines

You can really organize your data entry. Candat supports unlimited subject files (a subject file can hold unlimited subject records).You can have independent coders enter data for large studies and combine them at the end.

Each subject record can hold:
- up to 7 days of data
- up to 999 meals (user defined meals, you can really let your imagination go here)
Candat makes it easy for you to manage subject data. From simple lists to changing codes to merging files, the computer does it all. You have real control and confidence in your data, in your study.

You no longer have to scan your data to find problems. Candat does it for you and highlights the problem areas. Even errors of coding causing outliers can be caught and corrected easily.

Once your data is pure the primary analysis generates the nutrient data associated with each food in each meal in each day for each subject. This step can be done multiple times for any number of nutrients. You may wish to run your data with a small set of nutrients
just to ensure that everything is ok and then run it will all nutrients confidently. This is both efficient and accurate.

Reports produced by Candat can be printed and/or sent to files. It does not take too many calculations to realize that printed reports could run hundreds of pages. Nor are these printed reports necessary. You can send them
to files and view them from there to make sure the data is as expected.

Each report also produces a data file. This is a file that is self documenting and that can be imported, as-is, into spreadsheet programs or statistical analyses programs. No need for a separate export program.

At this stage the data phase of your study is almost done. Candat has generated the nutrient variables and you only need to relate them to other parameters. No hand data entry is required, you can be confident that the calculated data has maintained its integrity throughout.

The many types of report produced by Candat allow you to see the data in many ways without a need for external processes.

You pick the data you want to see, summarized the way you want it and then you choose how you want to see it.
Only Candat provides:
- week-weighted averages (to truly represent average daily intake)
- day of week code
- group code
along with all the nutrient related data. Only when you are ready with the data, summarized as you want it, do you need to send it an external system such as a statistical package or a spreadsheet program. Everything you have done so far has followed a well structured path to very clean data.

R.N.I reports are not part of the research stream but use the same data. As feedback to your subjects you may wish to give them a nutrient profile of their intake. With no additional data entry this report can be directed to a file, made to your specifications in word processing and handed to the subject… good public relations.
1. Recipe files maintenance and reports
- 400 Recipe file maintenance
  
  ADD/EDIT recipes
  
  CHANGE codes of recipes
  
  COPY a recipe to another file
  
  DELETE recipes
  
  COPY a recipe into another recipe
  
  LIST code and description of recipes (summary)
  
  LIST contents of recipes (verify)
- 410 Recipe file validation
- 420 Recipe nutrient calculations
- 430 Recipe to food file conversion
- 100 Food file maintenance
- 440 Recipe reports by types
Recipes follow the same type of input stream as subjects. They have the same flexibility of management. They are necessary to allow your coders to deal with foods that are not in the database and may be a bit esoteric.

Candat supports unlimited numbers of recipe files with unlimited recipe records per file. This allows you to create project-specific recipes.

Recipes can be converted to foods (either institute or user food file) and used in subject data entry. In this way recipes support the food intake process and provide documentation for those esoteric foods being considered in your study.

Independently of being a source of foods for Candat processing, the recipe module stands by itself. The writer of a cookbook can use this module to classify recipes and provide nutrient profiles, with nutrient ratings, for each recipe.
1. Questionnaire definition and input
- 550 Short questionnaires – Definition
  
  EDIT questionnaire items
  
  COPY questionnaire items
  
  CHANGE questionnaire item numbers
  
  DELETE questionnaire items
  
  VALIDATE questionnaire
  
  LIST questionnaire
  
  EDIT questionnaire response layout
  
  LIST questionnaire response sheets (title too)
  
  GENERATE questionnaire response screens
  
  CREATE a food table from Questionnaire foods
- 560 Short questionnaires – Input
- 310 Subject file validation
- 330 Primary analysis for nutrient reports
- 336 Primary analysis range error checking
- 340 Secondary analysis – reports
Food history questionnaires are another story. They are almost a whole system onto themselves. How do you define a questionnaire and why?

This module works hand-in-hand with the subject module. To find out what questions to put in a questionnaire one could do a short daily recall study, look at the foods eaten by food groups and create a few questions per food group to represent the way that population eats.

Candat produces reports which show the amount of each food eaten in each food group. Those foods can be used as ingredients in a recipe using relative quantities from the report and thus form a composite food. This food then would represent the nutrient profile of the question on the questionnaire. How accurate and
representative can you get! We know of 2 studies that have created food history questionnaires on that basis using Candat.

Would you do this by hand? How many lifetimes have you got?

One study created questionnaires with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) forms that used form scanning for data entry. With the addition of a small customized function Candat was able to automatically import and process these files too.

We work with you to bring efficiency and success to your research.
1. General file utilities
- 900 User file management
Candat creates many files in its user area. This module allows the user to manage those files without having to find them using another program such as windows explorer.
1. Utilities Options
- MAINTAIN objects in user file
- SET the screen attributes
- SET the message time delay
- SET the screen save time
- SET “TYPE AHEAD” mode
- SET the sound attributes
- SET the year or version of the Master Food File
- SET the language of the Master Food File
- SELECT printer type and paper size
- SETUP or CHANGE the user password
- SETUP or CHANGE the application password
- SETUP or CHANGE the manager password
- Register keyword for permanent use of CANDAT
Candat has a lot of flexibility allowing each user to create a comfortable working environment.

Users can even control the colours of various parts of their screen to ensure maximum visibility. Candat can be configured to allow colour-blind individuals to work with it using their colour parameters.

Candat takes care of the details so that you do not have to find an alternative way to work.
1. Note Options
- SCAN .TXT files
- SCAN save files
- Food Profile
- EXECUTE an APL statement
- SHOW notes
- ADD a note
This is the “F5” key area. From anywhere in Candat if you press the “F5” key you get this menu.

This allows the user to immediately view reports sent to files or data sent to files. The food profile option allows users to search for foods and view their nutrient profiles, again, from anywhere.

Sometimes (very rarely) computer statements can be entered directly as well. These statements are usually received from technical support. Once entered they become part of the user’s history on Candat and, if necessary, become part of the regular working environment.

Candat is here to meet your immediate and your future requirements.
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Citations
Some publications that mention using CANDAT

(please note that articles in journals, books, masters and PhD theses are in this growing list)
1. Alder, Robert J., Gail McKeown-Eyssen, and Elizabeth Bright-See. “Randomized trial of the effect of calcium supplementation on fecal risk factors for colorectal cancer.” American journal of epidemiology 138.10 (1993): 804-814.
2. Allès, Benjamin, et al. “Nutrient patterns in older persons from France and Quebec: comparisons of dietary, lifestyle and socio-economic characteristics.” NUTRITION (2013): 181578.
3. Allès, Benjamin. “DOCTORAT DE L’UNIVERSITE BORDEAUX 2.”
4. Alles, Benjamin. Profils de comportement alimentaire et déclin cognitif chez les personnes âgées en Aquitaine et au Québec. Diss. Bordeaux 2, 2013.
5. Andraea Van Hulst, Marie-Hélène Roy-Gagnon, Lise Gauvin, Yan Kestens, Mélanie Henderson, Tracie A Barnett. “Identifying risk profiles for childhood obesity using recursive partitioning based on individual, familial, and neighborhood environment factors” International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 2015, 12:17 (15 February 2015)
6. Arguin, Hélene, et al. “Short-and long-term effects of continuous versus intermittent restrictive diet approaches on body composition and the metabolic profile in overweight and obese postmenopausal women: a pilot study.” Menopause 19.8 (2012): 870-876.
7. Atikessé, Laura, et al. “Innu food consumption patterns: traditional food and body mass index.” Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research 71.3 (2010): e41-e49.
8. Aubertin‐Leheudre, Mylène, et al. “Effect of sarcopenia on cardiovascular disease risk factors in obese postmenopausal women.” Obesity 14.12 (2006): 2277-2283.
9. Aubertin-Leheudre, Mylène, et al. “Isoflavones and clinical cardiovascular risk factors in obese postmenopausal women: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial.” Journal of Women’s Health 17.8 (2008): 1363-1369.
10. BOBEUF, FLORIAN. “Sherbrooke, Décembre, 2009© Florian Bobeuf, 2009.” (2009).
11. BOFEGL FISH – 1998 – nlc-bnc.ca FISH, BENEFITS OF EATING GREAT LAKES. “AN ASSESSMENT OF THE NUTRITION-RELATED.” (1998).
12. Baraké, Roula, et al. “Vitamin D supplement consumption is required to achieve a minimal target 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration of≥ 75 nmol/L in older people.” The Journal of nutrition 140.3 (2010): 551-556.
13. Barake, Roula Ismail. Correlates and Consequences of Vitamin D Status in Older People. Diss. McGill University, 2009.
14. Benson, Victoria S., et al. “Type 1 diabetes mellitus and components in drinking water and diet: a population-based, case-control study in Prince Edward Island, Canada.” Journal of the American College of Nutrition 29.6 (2010): 612-624.
15. Bobeuf, F., et al. “Combined effect of antioxidant supplementation and resistance training on oxidative stress markers, muscle and body composition in an elderly population.” The journal of nutrition, health & aging 15.10 (2011): 883-889.
16. Borduas, Julie. “Conciliation des bénéfices et risques de la consommation de nourriture traditionnelle atikamekw: l’utilisation des questionnaires alimentaires pour dégager le profil de l’exposition au méthylmercure.” (2008).
17. Bouchard, Danielle R. Obésité et capacité physique chez la personne âgée. Université de Sherbrooke, 2008.
18. Bright‐See, E., et al. “Dietary fiber and cancer: a supplement for intervention studies.” (1985): 211-220.
19. Bright-See, E., V. Jazmaji, and C. A. Benda. “Computerized food and nutrient calculation for research.” Journal of the Canadian Dietetic Association (1986).
20. Campbell, Cathy C., and Ellen Desjardins. “A model and research approach for studying the management of limited food resources by low income families.” Journal of Nutrition Education 21.4 (1989): 162-171.
21. Campbell, Martha Karen, et al. “Determinants of small for gestational age birth at term.” Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology 26.6 (2012): 525-533.
22. Caron, Marie-Noëlle. Étude transversale comparative des effets des apports nutritionnels en lipides et en antioxydants sur les marqueurs du stress oxydatif chez le sujet âgé atteint de diabète mellitus de type 2 versus chez le sujet âgé non-diabétique. Université de Sherbrooke, 2004.
23. Chan, Laurie, et al. ““Our waters, our fish, our people” Mercury contamination in fish resources of two Treaty# 3 communities.”
24. Chaput, J‐P., et al. “Physical activity vs. sedentary time: independent associations with adiposity in children.” Pediatric obesity 7.3 (2012): 251-258.
25. Chaput, Jean-Philippe, et al. “Combined associations between moderate to vigorous physical activity and sedentary behaviour with cardiometabolic risk factors in children.” Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism 38.5 (2013): 477-483.
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93. Nash, Danielle M., et al. “Determinants of Diet Quality in Pregnancy: Sociodemographic, Pregnancy-specific, and Food Environment Influences.”Journal of nutrition education and behavior 45.6 (2013): 627-634.
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Folate and Vitamin A and other nutrients in CNF 2010

The most recent version of the Canadian Food File (CNF) deals with Folate and Vitamin A differently. Please read the User guide (a free download with the trial version of CANDAT10) to get an understanding of the logic behind the changes. Once you have done this simply run a Food Profile within CANDAT and look at the available nutrients and their codes. This will give you an insight into the changes in this new version of the CNF. You can also run a nutrient distribution report (Task100, Option 3) to see all the available nutrients and their relative presence in the foods. In particular this is important for folate. Folate used to have nutrient code 435, it is now 815.
Getting started
1.Download the software
From this first page of the website choose the Downloads & Trials button and navigate to the appropriate download. For the Candat application there are 4 possibilities, all with identical features. Choose the USA or Canadian version, based on your preference. Either version can access the other’s database, the ersion you choose installs with that country’s database activavted. The software allows you to change to the other database, possibly to source foods not found in your preferred database.

The other possibility depends on your computer. Choose the 32 bit version unless you have a 64 bit computer. Below, the 32 bit Canada trial is chosen.

Add the chosen version to your cart and checkout. Checkout will require your contact information and will create an account for you if you check the “create account” box..

If you choose to create an account you will always have access to your downloads without having to go through the purchase process (even if the purchase is for $0). There is no cost to create or maintain an account.

This is your confirmation of the order having been received. It has active links to download the software. You will also receive a confirmation email with these details.

If you have created an account and have signed in to the website with your account information you will be able to view and change the details of your account. Among other information you will see the list of your available downloads.

You can always install the most recent version of CANDAT over your existing version. None of your created data will be over-written, including configurations you may have set within your own CANDAT environment.

You should now use your usual download process to download the CANDAT executable and store it on an easily accessible area of your computer. “Desktop” is not a bad choice.

2.Install Candat
using an icon that looks like this if it is on your desktop

That should lead to the Welcome to Candat Setup Wizard, unless you are like me and have a security panel come up to confirm that you do indeed want to run this setup software.

By clicking on “Run” here we do get the Setup Wizard to start.

This is the beginning of the setup, click on “Next”

A more complete licence will be provided once you purchase Candat. Click on “I accept the agreement” and click on “Next”

These release notes give you more information on the environment in which Candat will work. Click on “Next” to continue…

This is where Candat will be installed. Click on “Next” to continue….

Each user on your computer can have his or her own area. This is where you would select the area. Report and data files will be stored in sub-directories of this area. Click on “Next” to continue…..

The folder of the start menu where Candat icons will be stored. No need to change this. Click on “Next” to continue….

… and a confirmation of your start-up choices. Click on “Next” to continue….

After the installation you will get a few useful notes. This information is also covered in the documentation should you need it. Click on “Next” to continue….

… and you are done! Congratulations. Click on “Finish” to end the installation.

This Icon should now appear on your desktop and is all you need to start using Candat on your computer.

3.Before Starting, Important Expectations:
- Candat does not work like windows programs because it is not a windows program. Candat is mostly for data entry and producing reports. It is much more efficient to use the keyboard for that kind of work, you do not have to constantly remove your hand from the keys to click on a new field.
- Candat does not use the mouse. It uses the tab and arrow keys as well as shortcuts using function keys (“F1”,“F5”, “F6”, Esc)
- Candat will work on all windows environments, including windows environments on Apple computers, something that most windows programs today cannot do
- This has allowed us to develop Candat to be the full featured program it is.
- You will find Candat very easy to use and consistent. Consider it a powerful “calculation engine” with outputs that can be read by windows programs such as Excel and Word and statistical packages such as SPSS and SAS.
4.Start the trial

When this first menu appears I check the following:
- Am I in the right database… the CDN10 (bottom right of the menu, under Databases) tells me I am in the Canadian nutrient file, most recent version
- note the function keys references… they are always useful in Candat, not too many to remember
- I still have 30 days left in my trial.
I am now ready to proceed.

5.Access the database through “Food Profile”

The first thing I do is access the database just to be sure the data works fine. For that I press the “F5” key to bring up a secondary menu, the Note Options. The nice thing about this “F5” key is that it is available to me wherever I happen to be in Candat. In this case I just want to access the Food Profile (see below) to check data.

Pressing “F5” gives me the Note Options below. To activate the Food Profile I can simply move the cursor down to that option or I can press “3” on the keyboard.

The prompts lead me to getting the desired information.

I happen to have multiple user food file in my environment. The food search feature of food profile can search foods from my specified user file too. In this case, I am choosing to include the “FOODHAB” file, Food Habits of Canadians. I could also choose <none> to just search the master and institute food file.

The following prompt appears at the bottom of the screen and is where the search becomes interesting. This window requires a food code which can be found by pressing “F6”.

There are many places in Candat that require a food code. One can enter a single word or part of a word, a combination of words separated by spaces or a combination of words separated by commas.

For instance, if I want to see all the foods that have avocado or guacamole, I would enter the following:

..and get a list of the found foods (I have already highlighted.my choice of the dip).

A small note about these “RESULTS BY KEYWORD”. All the foods presented have either avocado or guacamole in their descriptions. The letters “M” and “U” between the code and the descriptions indicate the source of the foods. “M” for Master food file, “U” for User food file. An “I” here would have indicated the Institute food file.

I simply press Esc. or Enter to bring that food code to the bottom of the page, Esc. again or Enter will bring up that food profile.

Food code…

…and profile

The resulting profile (below) contains all of the nutrients for that food, as well as the recommended daily intakes. This food has only one screen of nutrients but other foods will have multiple screens (pages) of nutrients. You can scroll down to see all the nutrients by pressing the “Page Down” key. If you press “Ctrl Page Down” you can scroll through a screen at a time.

Pressing “F6” in the Food Unit field shows the units that are available, we choose tablespoons in this case (see below).

… and choose 2 as the Amount. By pressing Enter twice we activate the “R” in the RECALC field and the profile recalculates to show the profile for that unit and amount (see below).

We only show part of the profile to demonstrate the choice of 2 tablespoons. Take note of the Weight and Ml reflecting a 2 tablespoon quantity.

Pressing Esc. repeatedly brings you back to where you were. A small aside, you can also press “F6” when prompted for Keywords. This will bring up your search history and you can choose one of those for your search.

If you have reached this point successfully you now know that you have installed Candat and have accessed one of its foods and manipulated the data and seen the results. You have also had some good experience with the “F5”, “F6”, Esc., and Enter keys. Now on to the real work. The next pages will introduce you to the modules and tasks of Candat, specifically, the task where you enter food recall information and get results.
Subject intake data
A typical Candat scenario

The navigation shown below is a good example of the navigation available throughout CANDAT. You will get used to using the function keys, particularly the keys “F6”, “F5”, “F1” and “Esc”.

Modules and tasks

The first to appear once Candat is started is the TASK MODULES screen. It contains a list of the modules available in CANDAT. Within each module is a list of tasks, each prefixed with a task number. For example, in module 3. Subject files… you will get a series of 300 level tasks. These tasks are related to subject entry, validation, reporting, etc… but all tasks that have to do with subjects.

You will see 300 related tasks in module 5. Questionnaire definition and input. That is because some of those tasks work with questionnaire data once it has been converted to subject files. Just an added convenience if you happen to be working with questionnaire data.

For now, choose the Subject module so that we can enter a simple recall to see how CANDAT works.

Subject files maintenance and reports

Subject file maintenance

This is where subject data is entered, on a per day, per meal basis. You can also configure general information about this subject file here.

Once you have started the task you may choose a user food file to activate. As you enter food codes this will allow CANDAT to automatically validate foods that may not be in the Master food file or Institute food file.

The next step allows you to select an existing subject file or create a new one.

We have chosen to create a new subject file which we have called “demo”, for the purposes of this tutorial. Please note that subject files can hold an unlimited number of subjects.

When first created we need to know whether this subject file will be used for questionnaires. Questionnaire subject files have a few more components to them. These can also be added later if you wish.

Up to 25 subject variables can be created per subject. This is where you define what those variables are. The variable names will serve to identify the data on reports.

This menu shows you what can be done with subject files. A bit overwhelming at first but necessary as your study evolves and you need to manage more and more of your data. For now we will just concentrate on entering subject recall data.

Candat allows up to 10 characters for a subject code. We have tried to make this a bit meaningful, as you can probably see from the characters. This can also be another place for you to classify the subjects. You must, however, make sure that the code you create is unique.

This is where you would populate the variable data that you defined before. Note that the definitions are specific to the subject file though the variable data changes from subject to subject (of course).

…and now we are able to enter actual food recall information, up to 7 days per subject. Specify the date using yyyymmdd coding. The date is important as Candat uses it to figure out the day of the week in “week-weighted” reports.

This is the main data entry screen for food data. You can also change the date here. A convenient way to navigate this screen is through the tab key and the arrow cursor controls. The “F6” key is especially convenient:
- in the Meal Code field it will give you a selection of valid meal codes (note that you can define your own meal codes, up to 999 or them!)
- in the Food Code field it will allow you to search foods. It will insert the code of the food you choose
- in the Unit Code field it will give you a list of valid units for that food and insert the code of the one you choose
  All you have left to enter is the Quantity. The Food Frequency field is not used in recalls, it is meant for questionnaire data.
The next few screen pictures will show you data at various stages as well as detail information of your input you can see by pressing the “F1” key.

This screen shows a few foods entered for a breakfast. The highlighted area shows the foods that were entered. It was generated by pressing the “F1” key on the date field. It could also have been generated by pressing the “F1” key on the Unit Code field. Pressing the “F1” key on the other fields will translate the code for the information it generates. For example, if pressed on the “1” under Meal Code, it would show “Breakfast”, if pressed on the food code “28730” it would show “Coffee Brewed”.

How do you know which codes to enter? You just use the “F6” key. The “F6” key pressed in the Meal Code field would give you a list of valid meals (the list you defined if you did that). By selecting the meal you wish the code is automatically inserted. Under the Food Code field “F6” generates the same search it did in the Food Profile area above. The selected food has its code inserted. “F6” in the Unit Code field lists all the units valid for that code. Again, selecting the desired unit inserts its code in the right place and generates the description.

Experiment a bit, add a few more code, fill in the day. When you are done simply press Esc to be prompted for another day of entry.

You can continue entering intake dates until you have the maximum of 7 per subject or you can stop at this point by entering a “0” for the date.

A “0” date will bring up the subject editing menu where you can perform other actions on this subject.

When you are done simply press the Esc key repeatedly until you reach the menu to choose another task:

At this point the prompts become intuitive. In a big study we would do a lot of data entry, perhaps even by multiple data entry clerks. Their subject files could be combined, all the data validated using tasks 310 and 330, the nutrient data compiled and reports produced using task 340.

The validation from task 310 is shown here… if we had made entry errors they would appear in the last column. This validation is also a good way of checking against your entry data to make sure the right foods were coded and none were missed.

and then we simply skip to task 340 to show you some of the possible ways of reporting.

Toggle the Options to Yes for those you would like to see in reports. There are many ways of setting your options.
- “Ctrl Y” selects them all to “Yes”,
- “Ctrl N” selects them all to “No”,
- “Y” make a “Yes”
- “N” makes “No”
- Just pressing “Enter” changes an entry back and forth.
For this example we will choose them all, “Ctrl Y”

…and press Esc to go to the next screen.

This allows us to select the nutrient we wish to see in the report.

We can add as many nutrients as we wish, pressing “F6” (standard now) on a code field allows us to choose nutrients we want to add. This process is shown below.

Here we have added LUTEIN, nutrient 837, you should see it in your reports, along with the others.

You can also choose to view other data in your reports, you can see the expressions and ratios we have chosen here…

The next few prompts allow you to select the subjects you wish to analyze and other reporting options such as printing, files to save, etc… they are explained below;

As you use Candat the above 4 screen shots will be very familiar to you. They are the standard selection sequence of database records, whether they be subjects (as they are here) or foods, recipes or questionnaires, the main databases used in Candat.

You can choose to sort by one of your selected nutrients, in this case we will leave the first nutrient, protein, as our sorting nutrient. Note that if you sort by nutrient and you view your reports at the food detail level, the foods will not be in the order entered but in the order of the selected nutrient value.

A nutrient report title which will appear on your printed reports…

In Candat you can define your own food groups. Food groups you define are stored in “category” files, each category file containing a list of food groups defined for that category and each food group containing a list of foods. Pressing “F6” here gives you a choice of available category files. Candat comes with the Canadian and USA category files pre-defined.

In this case we will bypass the category file selection by pressing Enter. This will have the effect of cancelling the reporting by food groups we previously selected.

The next few screens ask us for the name of the files to store the results. You can use the same name for each, very convenient as the same name can represent a particular part of your study or some particular purpose for the report, as here, “demo”

At this point Candat produces all the reports, ends the task and provides you with this friendly reminder.

You can then proceed to Start the task again (if you want to produce reports with other options) or choose another task.

View Reports

Of course, once you reach this stage you will probably press the “F5” key to look at your results. We go through this with you in the screens beginning on the next page.

Pressing Enter here lists all the text files (.TXT) and, in this case, gives the only file there.

The menu below is presented when you press the slash (“/”). You can then choose one of the presented options to manage the selected file.

This is the printed results file that was generated by Candat. For the columns to line up properly in external programs the font must be a fixed font, for example Courier New.

This file can be opened with a word processor or a text editor and printed from there if needed. Most of the time these files are not printed. We recently examined a file of 82 subjects and it had over 3,600 pages. That file included each food and showed detail by subject, by day and by meal with a meals summary at the end of each day and a days summary at the end of each subject.

In specifying default printers for CANDAT you can use a printer driver that creates .pdf files directly. This is very convenient as CANDAT allows you to specify very large page sizes which can be viewed in landscape (sideways) mode. If you do not have a .pdf printer driver you can still create this very large .txt file and then convert it using freely available .txt to .pdf converters. One that we have found very useful can be found at

http://www.verypdf.com/app/text-to-pdf-converter/

You can then use your favorite pdf reader application to easily browse through all the data.

You scan the .txt or the .pdf files to verify that the data you needed has indeed been generated. Once you are ready to use the data you can access it directly through the files in the SAVE folder. Those files can be imported directly either into a spreadsheet program or in a statistical program. Please see the next pages for examples of those files.

Once you have viewed the text files, you can proceed to the “save” files, the files that you can use to import your data into other programs.

Pressing Enter here give you a list of the save files generated by Candat.

Notice that the name of these files are the names we specified when we ran the reports. Some of these files document the layout of the data so that it can be provided to external programs that require that layout.

Most programs today will accept delimited files. Candat uses the “tab” character as a delimiter. The first row of these “tab-delimited” files contains a variable name which corresponds to the data in the following rows. You can change these variable names in three ways, if desired:
- within Candat by changing the short description of the nutrient names;
- by using an editor and changing the first row of the data file;
- within the program you are using to view the data, using the features of that program (in spreadsheets you would change the first row, in statistical packages you would change the variable names).
The following pages are screen captures from these files and show what the information looks like. Remember, these files are formatted for computers to read, they may look a bit strange to you.

Some of the following files are wider than a screen. In Candat you view them by using the Ctrl-{arrow-right} key. In this case we have just done a screen capture of each screen that came up as we scrolled to the right. Remember, these files are meant to be used by computer programs.

1 of 5

2 of 5

3 of 5

4 of 5

5 of 5

1 of 4

2 of 4

3 of 4

4 of 4

This file has 25 fields, the first 10 only are shown here. No data was input after the weight field.

1 of 3

2 of 3

3 of 3

1 of 4

2 of 4

3 of 4

4 of 4

The DEMO.TXW and DEMO.WTD files look like the above DEMO.TXS files and are not reproduced here for simplicity. They would be different if there were multiple days in the week and some of the days in the week included weekend days as well.

I am sure that when you enter your own data and start looking at these reports you will get a good feeling for how thorough and accurate they really are.

A small aside but important note: You will notice that some of the values in the reports are negative. These are missing values generated by foods that did not have values for particular nutrients. In totals they are counted as zero. Statistical software usually treats missing values differently than regular values and take them into consideration in some calculations.

This concludes the “getting started” tutorial. By now you should have acquired the keyboarding skills required to get your information into and out of Candat and be sufficiently confident to explore the other areas of Candat.

Remember we are here to answer each and every one of your questions. Candat is the calculation engine that generates your data. You can now use whatever software you wish to complete your analyses and present or publish your data.

If you have any difficulties with the software please contact us and let us know. It is the only way we can help.
First Steps
This course is based on the software CANDAT. You will get maximum benefit using it while you read the content. The following steps are suggested as a good way to proceed, not just with CANDAT but with any software.
1. Installation
  - For CANDAT
    - go the the http://www.foodresearch.ca website,
    - navigate to one of the trial versions,
    - go through the purchase process (at no cost – use the “free” coupon),
    - download the installation file,
    - run the install
2. Opening
  - Find the CANDAT icon on your desktop and open it (click, double click depending on your system)
  - The first options will ask you for an activation code. Just ignore these for the trial version (Press Enter or Esc) until you get the first CANDAT menu
  - Congratulations, you are now in the CANDAt software. It should open in its own window on your computer. You should see the following options:
  - Examine this screen carefully. There is not much to absorb here but the information below the menu of modules will give you the first navigation instructions and tell you which database(s) are open.
  - A quick note here… to choose a menu item either type in its first character (here, a 1,2,3,4,5, 6 or .) or move the cursor to the menu item desired and press Enter. A general rule is that pressing Esc will take you to the last item in the menu. This will take you to the previous menu or to a prompt to exit the system.
3. First tests
  - Look at the distribution of nutrients over the foods in the databases for:
    - Familiarity
    - Use of the prompts
    - Awareness of extent of database
  - Look and list the table of nutrients with limits for:
    - Understanding the definition of each nutrient
    - being able to add your own
    - having documentation of nutrient codes
  - Enter and analyze a subject recall:
    - this is one of the major tasks you will be doing with Candat
    - once you have entered a few recalls you will be familiar with the prompts and the data needed
    - you will understand how to choose the nutrients you wish to see
    - you will know how to check your data
    - you will see the multitude of reports that are available
    - you will see how easy it is to export your results and view them in a spreadsheet or statistical analysis program
Once you have accomplished these simple tasks you will feel a degree of comfort with Candat and the ensuing empowerment it brings to your nutrition research. Remember, we are there to help you in all these steps and beyond. It is what we do.