Future Directions for the CSFII/NHANES Diet/Nutrition Survey:
What We Eat in America:
Data Needs, Concerns, and Strategies for the Future

A Workshop

June 20-21, 2002

The Doubletree Hotel and Executive Meeting Center Rockville
1750 Rockville Pike
Rockville, Maryland 20852

Background:

As a consequence of the advent of the new combined CSFII continuous NHANES survey which includes elements of the former Continuing Survey of Food Intake of Individuals (CSFII) and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a number of conceptual and practical issues have confronted the community of users of the data to result from the continuing survey. As a result of decisions made in the combination of the two pre-existing surveys, the stakeholder community which includes agencies within the Federal nutrition research system, academia, consumers, and the food industry has been engaged in an ongoing dialogue with the two nodal agencies responsible for survey development, conduct and data availability, i.e., USDA and CDC. To better inform this dialogue, an organizing committee led by the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) and staff from the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has begun a process by which the full community of interested parties will have an opportunity to provide input to USDA/CDC about data needs, concerns and strategies for the future of the combined survey. The first step in this process will be the convening of a stakeholders workshop, focusing primarily on federal users.

The workshop will address those issues and concerns that occur at the interface between data needs/collection process and use of those data for national nutrition policy and research purposes. The workshop will identify strengths and limitations of current data collection procedures and uses, as well as outstanding needs and concerns, with possible strategies to further strengthen the survey and the National Nutrition Monitoring System.

Workshop Goals:

To develop recommendations on:

• How to best meet current and anticipated federal needs for dietary data on foods, nutrients, other food components and dietary supplements that are presently collected in the combined CSFII-NHANES dietary survey
• Major needs and problems associated with the provision and use of the desired data output for policy and research purposes and implications for improvements

Participants

Representatives of the major stakeholder communities including Federal agencies involved in research, surveillance and policy, academia and others who are involved in management and use of the survey and associated systems.

Format and Product:

In anticipation of the workshop, the organizing committee identified the following three core themes to be addressed at the workshop:

• Theme I: Collection of Food and Dietary Supplement Intake

Data collection and capture must provide a representation of intakes from food, fortified food and supplements so that nutrients and other food components can be estimated as reliably and accurately as possible. Intakes of foods are also important for crafting dietary guidance and for developing data on food safety and risk assessment. What alternatives exist for obtaining information on food and supplement intakes in the survey in the future?

• Theme 2: Intake Estimation

How do we develop estimates of total intakes of nutrients, of supplements and other dietary constituents, and of food consumption/food ingredients. What alternatives exist for the future?

• Theme 3: Food and Supplement Data and Databases

How complete are food and supplement data and databases used for developing estimates of intakes from the combined national survey data and what are future needs?

Review papers were developed to summarize current knowledge and data needs related to each of these themes. The workshop attendees will receive draft versions of the review papers prior to the meeting. The papers will then serve as the basis for the deliberations of Thematic Working Groups consisting of workshop participants and convened during the workshop.

The goal of each of the Thematic Working Groups will be the development of recommendations that will be codified in the working papers to be published on each of the three core themes.

Agenda: