ASSESSMENT OF THE UNITED-STATES DIET IN NATIONAL NUTRITION SURVEYS - NATIONAL COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS AND NHANES

The National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Program include s conducting national surveys to estimate the dietary intake and nutri tional status of the US population. As part of this program, a 10-y co mprehensive plan has been developed to strengthen nutrition-monitoring efforts in the United States. Emphasis is placed on improving coordin ation and comparability among data collection methods across federal a gencies and on conducting relevant research. Current collaborative eff orts between the US Departments of Health and Human Services (DHHS) an d Agriculture (USDA) include coordinating the national food-consumptio n surveys in the areas of planning population coverage, by using compa rable dietary intake methods, and targeting research toward improving dietary methods. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) contributes population data on diet, nutritional status, and health outcomes to the Nutrition Monitoring Program. The third NHANES (1988-1994) includes 40 000 noninstitutionalized people aged greater-t han-or-equal-to 2 mo and oversamples blacks, Mexican Americans, childr en, and elderly people and uses an automated 24-h recall as the primar y dietary instrument. Assessing dietary intake in heterogeneous popula tions in national surveys poses many methodologic, statistical, and in terpretive issues and highlights the need for specific research to imp rove dietary assessment methods.