Comparative analysis of nutrition data from national, household, and individual levels: results from a WHO-CINDI collaborative project in Canada, Finland, Poland, and Spain.
OBJECTIVE
This project determined to what extent data on diet and nutrition, which were collected in a non-uniform manner, could be harmonised and pooled for international and national comparison.


METHODS
Direct comparisons of dietary data between studies were made using food balance sheets (FBS), household budget surveys (HBS), and individual dietary data (IDS); comparisons were also made within countries. Differences in study design and methodological approaches were taken into consideration. Data from research projects from the following four World Health Organisation (WHO) Countrywide Integrated Noncommunicable Disease Intervention (CINDI) countries were included-Canada, Finland, Poland, and Spain.


RESULTS
FBS overestimated food consumption and nutrient intake compared to IDS. Results between HBS and IDS were quite similar, except for fish, meat, pulses and vegetables, which were underestimated by HBS, and sugar and honey and cereals, which were overestimated. Percentages of energy from fat, carbohydrates and proteins were higher when estimated from FBS, HBS, and IDS respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest that estimations from these three sources of dietary data are difficult to compare because they are measuring different levels of dietary information. The understanding of their relations may be important in formulating and evaluating a nutrition policy.
Serra-Majem
L
L
Department of Clinical Sciences, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. lserra@dcc.ulpgc.es
MacLean
D
D
Ribas
L
L
Brulé
D
D
Sekula
W
W
Prattala
R
R
Garcia-Closas
R
R
Yngve
A
A
Lalonde
M
M
Petrasovits
A
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002170:Canada; D002648:Child; D004032:Diet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004034:Diet Surveys; D002149:Energy Intake; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011044:Poland; D013030:Spain