THE NHANES-III SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION SURVEY OF OLDER AMERICANS

The number of Americans aged greater-than-or-equal-to 65 y will reach 70 million by the mid-21st century. Health and nutritional-status data for older populations are urgently needed to identify future health r esource and program needs. The Third National Health and Nutrition Exa mination Survey (NHANES III), a 6-y survey of the civilian, noninstitu tionalized US population greater-than-or-equal-to 2 mo old began in 19 88; almost-equal-to 7000 of the 30 000 examinees are aged greater-than -or-equal-to 50 y. The NHANES III dietary assessment component include s 24-h dietary recall and food-frequency interviews; information on di etary practices, vitamin and mineral supplement use, food sufficiency, and functional status is obtained. The National Institute on Aging fu nded a special dietary study to collect two independent replicate 24-h recalls by telephone from NHANES III-Cycle I examinees aged greater-t han-or-equal-to 50 y. The expanded dietary data set for older people w ill be analyzed to examine characteristics of in-house and telephone d ietary interviews and to examine factors previously shown to affect en ergy and nutrient intake estimates for older people.