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Introduction

The mission of the Hawai‘i Foods website (www.hawaiifoods.hawaii.edu) is to improve the health of Hawai‘i's people by providing food and nutrient information to help them make healthier dietary choices. Over 500 foods are currently featured on the website, with the following information generally available for each: description, scientific and common names, photo, and amount of 25 macro and micronutrients. Because the foods eaten in Hawai‘i reflect the cultural range of its people, the website focuses on foods typically found in Western, Asian, Pacific Islander, and other “local” diets. It is an evolving resource, as nutrient data, recipes, publications, photos, and other information are continually being added to the databases.

Development

Hawai‘i Foods was developed with base funds from the Vitamin Settlement Fund to the University of Hawai‘i's Center on the Family with the aim to serve Hawai‘i's need for information on “local” foods.

The website was launched in October 2007 with the initial conceptual framework developed by faculty of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) at UH. The present website is a collaboration of CTAHR with the UH Cancer Center, where nutrient and recipe databases are maintained by the Nutrition Support Shared Resources at the Center. The My Diet feature of the website is based on the Pacific Tracker (PacTrac), which was developed by a USDA/CSREES/Integrated National Research Initiative grant for the Healthy Living in the Pacific Islands: Healthy Pacific Child Program.¹ Programming and computer support for the website are provided by CTAHR, and research and verification of the scientific names for foods is provided by Hamilton Library at UH-Manoa.

Website Content

The Hawai‘i Foods website continues to grow as new information is gathered, analyzed, and prepared for presentation. The information is organized in four major sections: Search, Browse, Learn, and Discover.

Search

Specific foods are searchable by food item or ingredient. Results can be viewed by name of food or as photos, both of which are linked to the nutrient data for selected serving sizes.

Browse

Foods in the database can also be located by (a) food group—user selects from a list including beverages, fastfoods, fruits, seafood, and other categories, or (b) food name, user selects from an alphabetical listing of all the foods in the database, such as apple, arare, and andagi. Figure 1 is a typical example of how nutrient information is displayed on the site.

Figure 1.

Example of Nutrient Information Displayed on Hawai‘i Foods Website

Learn

Users can learn about the quality of their diets in this section, which features My Diet, an online dietary assessment tool. After entering foods consumed in a single day, users learn the amount of calories, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium they consumed, as well as additional nutrient information. They also receive a “score” on the overall quality of their diet for that day, based on the types and amounts of food eaten as compared to those recommended by the Food Guide Pyramid of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).² Since the development of the My Diet tool, USDA has revised the original Food Guide Pyramid, which is now called My Pyramid, but the food groups and number of recommended servings are very similar.³ USDA authorization and software codes for displaying the latest version of My Pyramid on the Hawai‘i Foods website have been secured, and programmers are currently working to install it. Dietary assessments on Hawai‘i Foods will then conform exactly to current USDA guidelines.

Discover

This section contains Local Recipes, Publications, and Related Links. There are 20 recipes on the Hawai‘i Foods website, each of which (a) contains one or more locally produced or consumed ingredients; (b) is relatively low in fat, sodium, and calories; and (c) has been analyzed by a registered dietitian for its nutrient content. Selected recipes from the A Dash of Aloha cookbook,⁴ published in 2007 by Kapi‘olani Community College, UH, are currently being formatted to add to the website.

Eighty-four publications relating to foods produced and/or consumed in Hawai‘i are featured on the site. A citation—author, title of publication, source, date of publication—is available for each, as well as a pdf file of the publication where permission was obtainable.

Users can also select from a list of 14 links to reputable websites for more science-based information on food composition and nutrient analysis.

Usage

From January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009, there were 56,276 visitors to the Hawai‘i Foods website, with an average of 4,685 unique visitors per month. Visitors were from 94 different countries/territories, with 89% from the United States and 56% of this national total from Hawai‘i. Other countries visiting the website most frequently included: Canada, Australia, Philippines, United Kingdom, and Japan.⁵

Comments received from users indicate that the Hawai‘i Foods website is an extremely valuable resource for obtaining nutrient information that generally is not available elsewhere about local foods. The site has been used to guide food choices for those with chronic health conditions, a desire to reduce weight, and a general interest in the nutrient content of foods. The website is also used by dietitians and other health and lifestyle counselors as an educational tool for their clients and by teachers, researchers, and students for academic purposes.

Looking Ahead

The content on the Hawai‘i Foods website will continue to expand with the addition of more recipes and a local snack food section, the updating of the My Diet assessment section with the PacTrac II tool, and the most recent USDA My Pyramid.

The Hawai‘i Foods website continues to benefit from the expertise, resources, and statewide networks of many pro bono collaborators, enabling it to disseminate locally based offerings and reach new audiences. To further leverage base funds, new funding sources are sought to support the development of educational materials that meet the mission of Hawai‘i Foods and can add value to the website. Hawai‘i Foods has become the state's premier resource on “local” foods, serving as a prevention and educational tool to meet the health and nutritional needs of people in Hawai‘i and beyond its shores.