National Dietary & Nutrition Surveys Flashcards
There are many reasons behind conducting national dietary and nutrition surveys. List as many as you can.
Though this list is not exhaustive, they include:
- Show how food is distributed across demographic factors (ie region, income, sex, race and ethnicity)
- Monitors nutritional status of a population and the trends between diet and health
- Identifies groups at nutritional risk
- Can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of food assistance programs
- Data can track food trends and current dietary practices over time for groups of people or the population
- Needed for government agencies to supervise agriculture and food industries
- Used to estimate the ‘disappearance’ of food and determine (indirectly) a rough estimate of food consumption
Define nutritional monitoring
The assessment of dietary or nutritional status at intermittent times with the aim of detecting changes in the dietary or nutritional status of a population
The USDA monitors food availability data. What does that mean?
Annual estimates of the amount of food that is available for consumption from the US food distribution system. Note that food availability is not a direct measure of actual food consumed, but an estimate of the amount of food that has left the wholesale and retail food distribution system and is/can be eaten in the home and away from the home (restaurants, etc.).
Which unit within the USDA is responsible for the food availability data system?
The Economic Research Service (ERS)
Define food security
USDA’s definition - access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. Food security includes at a minimum: 1) the ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, and 2) an assured ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.
Approximately what % of all Americans combined are food insecure?
15%
What is NHANES?
Joint effort between DHHS and USDA - The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) is a program of studies designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States. The survey is unique in that it combines interviews and physical examinations.
What does the FDA (the Food and Drug Administration) use NHANES data for?
To evaluate the need to change fortification regulations for the nation’s food supply and to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of new regulations to improve food safety
What are the goals of NHANES?
- Estimate number and percent of people in US (including subgroups) with selected diseases and risk factors.
- Monitor trends in prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of selected diseases.
- Monitor trends in risk behaviors and environmental exposures.
- Analyze risk factors for selected diseases.
- Study the relationship among diet, nutrition, and health.
- Explore emerging public health issues and new technologies.
- Establish a national probability sample of genetic material for future genetic testing.
What type of dietary recall method(s) are collected in NHANES?
24-hour recall and food frequency (for those 12 years and older)
Why does the CDC conduct the BRFSS surveillance system?
The Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System is a state-based telephone survey that collects data on the prevalence of personal health practices identified as risk factors for one or more of the 10 leading causes of death.
What are some of the dietary trends being tracked?
Sources of food energy, trends in carbohydrates, trends in sweeteners, trends in dietary fats and oils, trends in dairy products, trends in beverages, trends in red meat, poultry, and fish, trends in fruits and vegetables, and trends in total calories.
