Tracing ingestion of 'novel' foods in UK diets for possible health surveillance--a feasibility study.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the feasibility of using commercially available data on household food consumption to carry out food and nutritional surveillance.


METHODS
Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) collects information on foods brought home for consumption among a representative quota sample of the British population. In total, 33,177 households and 105,667 individuals provided data between 1991 and 2000. These were used to investigate sociodemographic, geographical and temporal trends in purchase patterns of the main macronutrients and four groups of marker products.


RESULTS
Sociodemographic characteristics of the TNS sample were broadly consistent with those of the British population. Estimated energy intakes were slightly low (1667+/-715 kcal) in comparison with other national data. However, percentage energy contributions were consistent with national trends: e.g. consumption of alcohol in the home increased between 1991 and 2000 with higher intakes among more affluent households, while fat intakes decreased slightly over the same period. Significant temporal, geographic and socio-economic trends were found for all nutrients (P<0.0001). Intakes of marker products were sparse (purchased by <4% of households), but significant variations were detected in the proportion of households purchasing some or all of the marker products across temporal, geographic and socio-economic strata.


CONCLUSIONS
A prospective nutrient surveillance system could be used to trace consumption patterns of foods or nutrients to inform nutritional surveillance. However, existing data sources would require a number of modifications to increase their suitability for such a project. Increasing surveillance to consider ingredients would require the development of a central coding system, with electronically linked barcode, ingredient and nutrient information.
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Imperial College, St Mary's Campus, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG, UK. c.robertson@imperial.ac.uk
Claire
C
Robertson
Nicky
N
Best
Judith
J
Diamond
Paul
P
Elliott
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004032:Diet; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004044:Dietary Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002149:Energy Intake; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005502:Food / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005504:Food Analysis; D005523:Food Supply / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D006113:United Kingdom
D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D004041:Dietary Fats; D004044:Dietary Proteins