NutrientsDB Sample Data

A small, representative sample from NutrientsDB, the global food composition database for developers, researchers, and AI builders.

The full database has 2.9M+ food entries across 86 nutrient fields, normalized to standard units and deduplicated across 180+ countries. This repo contains a tiny slice so you can inspect the shape of the data before getting the full dataset.

What's here

File	Description
sample.json	1,000 food entries with the complete 86-field nutrient schema

This mirrors the free 1,000-food sample available at nutrientsdb.com.

Github: https://github.com/colinearstudio/nutrientsdb-sample Hf: https://huggingface.co/datasets/colinearstudio/nutrientsdb

Working with the data

The data is plain JSON, so it loads in any language with no database server required.

import json

with open("sample.json") as f:
    foods = json.load(f)

for food in foods:
    n = food["nutrients"]
    print(food["name"], n["energy_kcal"], "kcal")

Data schema

Each record has a stable public_id, a human-readable name, and a nutrients object. All 86 nutrient keys are present on every entry. Values are numbers, or null when a source does not report that nutrient.

{
  "public_id": 2923506,
  "name": "Turkey, drumstick, from whole bird, meat only, raw",
  "nutrients": {
    "energy_kcal": 109.0,
    "protein_g": 23.66,
    "fat_g": 1.48,
    "carbs_g": 0.14,
    "vitamin_b12_ug": 0.63,
    "potassium_mg": 242.0
  }
}

All values are per 100 g of the food, the standard basis for food composition data.

Units

The unit is encoded as a suffix on each field name.

Suffix	Unit
_g	grams (g)
_mg	milligrams (mg)
_ug	micrograms (mcg)
_kcal	kilocalories (kcal)

Energy and macronutrients

Field	Unit	Description
energy_kcal	kcal	Total food energy
protein_g	g	Total protein
fat_g	g	Total fat (lipids)
carbs_g	g	Total carbohydrate
fiber_g	g	Dietary fiber
starch_g	g	Starch
water_g	g	Water content
alcohol_g	g	Alcohol (ethanol)

Carbohydrates and sugars

Field	Unit	Description
sugar_g	g	Total sugars
sugar_added_g	g	Added sugars
glucose_g	g	Glucose (dextrose)
fructose_g	g	Fructose
galactose_g	g	Galactose
sucrose_g	g	Sucrose
lactose_g	g	Lactose
maltose_g	g	Maltose

Fats and fatty acids

Field	Unit	Description
saturated_fat_g	g	Total saturated fat
monounsaturated_fat_g	g	Total monounsaturated fat
polyunsaturated_fat_g	g	Total polyunsaturated fat
trans_fat_g	g	Trans fat
cholesterol_mg	mg	Cholesterol
fatty_acid_4_0_g	g	Butyric acid (4:0)
fatty_acid_16_0_g	g	Palmitic acid (16:0)
fatty_acid_18_0_g	g	Stearic acid (18:0)
fatty_acid_18_1_g	g	Oleic acid (18:1)
fatty_acid_18_2_n6_g	g	Linoleic acid (18:2 n-6)
fatty_acid_18_3_n3_g	g	Alpha-linolenic acid, ALA (18:3 n-3)
fatty_acid_20_5_n3_g	g	Eicosapentaenoic acid, EPA (20:5 n-3)
fatty_acid_22_6_n3_g	g	Docosahexaenoic acid, DHA (22:6 n-3)

Minerals

Field	Unit	Description
calcium_mg	mg	Calcium
iron_mg	mg	Iron
magnesium_mg	mg	Magnesium
phosphorus_mg	mg	Phosphorus
potassium_mg	mg	Potassium
sodium_mg	mg	Sodium
chloride_mg	mg	Chloride
zinc_mg	mg	Zinc
copper_mg	mg	Copper
manganese_mg	mg	Manganese
selenium_ug	mcg	Selenium
iodine_ug	mcg	Iodine
fluoride_ug	mcg	Fluoride
chromium_mg	mg	Chromium
molybdenum_ug	mcg	Molybdenum
phytate_mg	mg	Phytate (phytic acid)

Vitamins

Field	Unit	Description
vitamin_a_rae_ug	mcg	Vitamin A (retinol activity equivalents)
thiamin_mg	mg	Vitamin B1 (thiamin)
riboflavin_mg	mg	Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)
niacin_mg	mg	Vitamin B3 (niacin)
niacin_equivalents_mg	mg	Niacin equivalents (NE)
pantothenic_acid_mg	mg	Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid)
vitamin_b6_mg	mg	Vitamin B6
biotin_ug	mcg	Vitamin B7 (biotin)
folate_ug	mcg	Folate (B9)
vitamin_b12_ug	mcg	Vitamin B12
vitamin_c_mg	mg	Vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
vitamin_d_ug	mcg	Vitamin D
vitamin_e_mg	mg	Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)
vitamin_k_ug	mcg	Vitamin K
choline_mg	mg	Choline

Carotenoids

Field	Unit	Description
alpha_carotene_ug	mcg	Alpha-carotene
beta_carotene_ug	mcg	Beta-carotene
beta_cryptoxanthin_ug	mcg	Beta-cryptoxanthin
lutein_zeaxanthin_ug	mcg	Lutein and zeaxanthin
lycopene_ug	mcg	Lycopene

Amino acids

All amino acids are reported in grams.

Field	Description	Field	Description
histidine_g	Histidine	alanine_g	Alanine
isoleucine_g	Isoleucine	arginine_g	Arginine
leucine_g	Leucine	aspartic_acid_g	Aspartic acid
lysine_g	Lysine	cystine_g	Cystine
methionine_g	Methionine	glutamic_acid_g	Glutamic acid
phenylalanine_g	Phenylalanine	glycine_g	Glycine
threonine_g	Threonine	proline_g	Proline
tryptophan_g	Tryptophan	hydroxyproline_g	Hydroxyproline
valine_g	Valine	serine_g	Serine
tyrosine_g	Tyrosine

Other compounds

Field	Unit	Description
caffeine_mg	mg	Caffeine
theobromine_mg	mg	Theobromine