Description of nutrients

An overview of  the nutrients available in NEVO-online is given in the document ‘List of components'. The document  includes the  English component name, Dutch component name and EuroFIR nutrient codes. An extended description of nutrients is available in the document ‘NEVO online 2025: background information’ (chapter 6).

The units in which nutrients are expressed correspond to those used by the Health Council in its recommendations regarding the recommended amounts of nutrients. For macronutrients, this is gram (g); for vitamins and minerals, milligram (mg) or microgram (μg).

Free sugars

Free sugars are monosaccharides and disaccharides that are consumed separately or added to foods as ingredients during production or preparation. Sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit and vegetable juices, and their concentrates also fall under this category.
Some foods only contain natural sugars (monosaccharides/disaccharides) in their intact form, such as fresh fruit, vegetables, and milk. These foods do not contain free sugars. Additionally, there are products where all sugars have been added, such as sweetened lemonade without fruit juice. For mixed products, an estimate is made based on the ingredients. The sugar content then consists of naturally occurring sugars plus free sugars. Free sugars cannot be measured directly, so the contents are estimates. The methodology is based on the stepwise approach of Louie (Louie, J. et al. J Clin Nutr 69, 154–161 (2015)). 

New in NEVO online 2025

From NEVO-online 2025 onwards, ‘free sugars’ have been added. The content of free sugars is estimated for products with more than 30 grams of sugar per 100 grams. For the Dutch National Food Consumption Survey 2019-2021, values were also needed for NEVO codes with less sugar. NEVO codes used in that survey have also been assigned a value for free sugars.

Methodology

For estimation of free sugars content the following methodology has been followed: 

• Due to the nature of the product, the free sugar content is logically 0 if:
  • The product does not contain any mono- or disaccharides.
  • The product contains only natural sugars: 100% milk, fruit, and vegetables, and also 100% grains, legumes, potatoes, cheese, and cream.
  • The ingredients of the product do not contain any free sugars.
• Due to the nature of the product, the free sugar content is logically equal to the mono- or disaccharide content if:
  • The product is 100% honey, syrup, or fruit/vegetable concentrate.
  • The unsweetened version of the product contains <0.5 grams of sugars, for example, potato products, cocoa powder, breakfast cereals and cookies without fruit/chocolate/milk ingredients, mayonnaise, drinks without milk, bouillon cubes, sweets without milk/fruit, processed meat/fish, soy drinks.
• The free sugar content can be calculated using a NEVO recipe.
• The free sugar content can be calculated when an unsweetened version of the food product is available in NEVO.
• The free sugar content is estimated based on the product's ingredients or a comparable product. The branded food database LEDA was consulted for this purpose.

Dietary fibre

Dietary fibre includes parts of the plant cell that cannot be decomposed by enzymes in the stomach and small intestine. Dietary fibre content depends strongly on the method of analysis used. Up to and including 2016, the fibre content in NEVO was analysed using the AOAC985.29 and AOAC991.43 methods. These methods do not measure all types of fibre.
New fibre contents in NEVO, from 2017 onwards, are based on the newer AOAC2009.01 method (or modifications such as AOAC2017.16). This method measures both low and high molecular dietary fibre, including the various types of resistant (= indigestible) starch, added together to form total dietary fibre. Fibre contents of cereals and types of flours, meat and dairy replacers, legumes, and dairy desserts are determined using the newer method. For the other foods, almost no fibre contents are yet available with this analytical method. In NEVO-online, dietary fibre is referred to as fibre.

Conversion of resistant starch to digestible starch

The use of the AOAC2017.16 method for products with a high content of resistant starch results in a high fibre content. In NEVO, the fibre contents of potato starch and corn starch are calculated ‘by difference’, because resistant starch is converted into digestible starch when heated. NEVO provides the values for the heated (prepared) form, as these foods are usually eaten in cooked dishes. This corresponds with the values listed by manufacturers on the food label.

Fatty acids clusters

The fatty acid clusters present in NEVO, for instance saturated fatty acids, consist of several individual fatty acids. The document ‘Composition of fatty acid clusters' lists which individual fatty acids belong to which cluster.