Use the Ciqual table for your nutritional calculations!
An ally of dietetic experts and nutrition professionals, the Ciqual table is a valuable tool for estimating the nutritional value of recipes, meals and other food intakes.
A rich and comprehensive online database, it centralises precise information on the composition and nutritional quality of reference foods in France and other French-speaking countries.
In particular, it provides information on the amount of energy, macronutrients and micronutrients, and the sugar, sodium and other constituent content of the food you are looking for, so you can see how much the body needs.
So what are the advantages of this resource, and how can you use it to support your work in the field of nutrition?
Nutritional profile from our article :
The Ciqual table: definition
What is the Ciqual table?
Created by the Centre d'information sur la qualité des aliments (Food Quality Information Centre), the Ciqual nutritional composition table is a mine of online information on the nutritional values of the foods most commonly consumed in France. Since its last update in 2019, it has listed more than 2,800 nutrient values.
This tool, which is available free of charge on the ANSES (Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l'alimentation, de l'environnement et du travail) website, is an interactive reference database with search functions that can be used by any :
- nutritionist
- dietician
- public health organisation
- nutrition or nutritional epidemiology researcher,
- but also food manufacturers who need to establish the nutritional labelling of a product.
How does the Ciqual table work?
The Ciqual table shows the average nutritional value of the most representative foodstuffs consumed in France.
There are two ways of using the food composition table:
▶︎ Firstly, you can search for details of the average nutritional composition of the food of your choice.
For example, if you want to find out about the nutritional value of bread, you can find its detailed nutritional composition, including calories (kcal), energy (kJ) and average, minimum and maximum content (depending on the data available) of :
- water
- carbohydrates
- protein
- lipids,
- vitamins, minerals
- minerals,
- starch, etc.
Each of the sheets presents in a table the 61 constituents of the food searched for, along with a "confidence code" on a reliability scale from A (most reliable) to D (least reliable).
💡 The values are expressed for a 100g portion of the food concerned, not including inedible parts (such as the core or seeds for a fruit, etc.).
► Secondly, the composition table can be used to list foods containing a particular constituent.
For example, you can obtain a list of foods containing magnesium, with the option of sorting the foods from those richest in magnesium to those poorest and vice versa.
ℹ️ To find out how to calculate the energy value of foods, detailed explanations can be found on the Questions/Answers page of the site.
From table to plate: why use the Ciqual table?
The advantages
- Thanks to its powerful search engine, the database makes reliable, sourced and regularly updated information available at the click of a button.
- The tool, whose interface has been completely redesigned, offers pleasant ergonomics and ease of use.
- The table provides in-depth knowledge of the food constituents consumed. This means you'll be better informed about the quantities you need to eat to achieve a balanced diet that respects the recommended daily allowances.
- This free, ready-to-use directory is ideal for nutrition professionals advising their patients, or anyone who takes a close interest in their diet (monitoring blood sugar, salt and cholesterol levels, etc.): it's the perfect way to put together a solid, relevant and well-documented food plan .
Some limitations
- The information on the table is limited to foods consumed in France.
- The data is not exhaustive, as is the case for certain foods that are rarely found on French plates or for particular brands, and the product references do not cover the entire market.
- Values derived from chemical analyses are sometimes relative and subject to variations such as growing conditions, geographical origin or manufacturing processes.
- Nutrition factsheets are dense and potentially complex for the uninitiated.
However, with a few tricks up your sleeve, you can make the most of them. Let's see how!
How do I use the Ciqual table?
A few key points
The site's interface is like a search engine:
Ciqual.Anses
You can search in English or French.
To find out the detailed composition of a food:
- tick the "Food" box (which is then displayed in blue),
- enter the name of the food directly (e.g. plain yoghurt).
To find foods rich in a particular constituent:
- tick the corresponding box,
- type the name in the search bar (e.g. vitamin C).
Finally, you can carry out a more progressive search by food family by clicking on the orange box, and refining your selection as you go along (for example: cereal products or dairy products, etc.).
You'll get the results in table form, or you can read the detailed, abbreviated composition and obtain the sources of the data.
Ciqual.Anses
☝️ The confidence code should not be confused with the Nutri-Score : the Nutri-score provides simplified information on the nutritional quality of a product, based on a scale of colours and letters from A to E.
The confidence code is an index of the reliability of the information, based on various parameters such as the representativeness of the data in relation to the French market and the quality of the analytical method.
Practical use
Health professionals, nutritionists and dieticians can use the Ciqual database in their day-to-day practice.
The composition of the "average foods" listed, such as "cooked vegetables", "cheese" and "fruit", helps to simulate a typical diet or to estimate nutritional intakes. In this way, it is a key tool for establishing a precise, documented nutritional assessment.
The table provides access to a complete nutritional analysis, enabling the practitioner to offer personalised recommendations to his patients, by drawing up fully adapted menus and food plans. It can also be used to calculate and compare the nutritional value of certain foods or recipes.
The composition table... in software!
While all the nutritional composition data for foods in the Ciqual table can be consulted free of charge on the official Ciqual-Anses website, they are also available for download from the dedicated page on the Ciqual website (Excel) or from data.gouv.fr.
Lastly, the information in the table can be directly integrated into a software application for seamless use with your day-to-day professional tools.
This is the case with Cookfaces: this application is divided into two platforms, one of which is reserved for nutrition professionals, particularly in the catering industry. It includes reference data from the Ciqual database and enables nutritional classification of recipes and food plans.
This is also the case with Nutrium, a tool specially designed for dieticians and nutrition professionals. Perfectly suited to the creation of food plans and menus based on information from the Ciqual table, it enables a complete and automatic nutritional analysis to be carried out. It also provides access to 15 other nutritional tables to complete your analyses.
To create food plans that are consistent with the recommended nutritional intake for each constituent, take advantage of the data in the Ciqual table, and don't hesitate to turn to a tool that will save you time, personalise your recommendations and even share them directly with your patients to improve their experience!
Article translated from French