title: A population's distribution of Healthy Eating Index-2005 component scores can be estimated when more than one 24-hour recall is available.
abstract: The USDA's Healthy Eating Index-2005 (HEI-2005) is a tool to quantify the quality of diet consumed by individuals in the U.S. It comprises 12 components expressed as ratios of a food group or nutrient intake to energy intake. Components are scored on a scale from 0 to M, where M is 5, 10, or 20. Ideally, the HEI-2005 is calculated on the basis of the usual, or long-term average, dietary intake of an individual. In recent cycles of the NHANES, intake data have been collected via 24-h recalls for more than 1 d on most participants. We present here a statistical method to estimate a population's distribution of usual HEI-2005 component scores when >or=2 d of dietary information is available for a sample of individuals from the population. Distributions for the total population and for age-gender subgroups may be estimated. The method also yields an estimate of the population's mean total HEI-2005 score. Application of the method to NHANES data for 2001-2004 yielded estimated distributions for all 12 components; those of total vegetables (range 0-5), whole grains (range 0-5), and energy from solid fats, alcoholic beverages, and added sugars (range 0-20) are presented. The total population mean scores for these components were 3.21, 1.00, and 8.41, respectively. An estimated 30% of the total population had a score of <2.5 for total vegetables. This is the first time, to our knowledge, that estimated distributions of usual HEI-2005 component scores have been published.
authors.affiliation: Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research, Tel Hashomer, Israel. lsf@actcom.co.il
authors.forename: Laurence S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Freedman
authors.forename: Patricia M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Guenther
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Krebs-Smith
authors.forename: Kevin W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Dodd
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Midthune
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000434:Alcoholic Beverages; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004032:Diet; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage; D019422:Dietary Sucrose; D002523:Edible Grain; D002149:Energy Intake; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D009753:Nutritive Value; D011855:Radiodermatitis; D012737:Sex Factors; D014675:Vegetables
chemical_list: D004041:Dietary Fats; D019422:Dietary Sucrose