Location: Food Surveys Research Group
2024 Annual Report
Objectives
Objective 1: Determine if adherence to Dietary Guidelines recommendations, such as consuming fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and limiting added sugars and saturated fat, is associated with fewer health risk factors among the population and population subgroups in What We Eat in America, NHANES. [NP107, C2, PS2B]
Objective 2: Establish whether variations in meal patterns, such as meal skipping, eating away from home, and snack and beverage consumption, are associated with diet quality and health risk factors among the population and population subgroups in What We Eat in America, NHANES. [NP107, C2, PS2B]
Objective 3: Investigate if flavonoid intake is positively associated with diet quality and negatively associated with cardiovascular health markers and health outcomes among at-risk adults in the NIH Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span (HANDLS) study. [NP107, C2, PS2B]
Approach
Diet-related disease rates have risen in the U.S. over the past two decades. Secular trends in food intake show that a majority of Americans continue to follow unhealthy eating patterns. Progress in reversing these trends requires evidence-based, comprehensive, and coordinated strategies. Two large-scale health surveys conducted by the Federal government--the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span (HANDLS) study--provide extensive data on dietary and health measures. What We Eat in America (WWEIA), the dietary component of NHANES, is the sole source of nationally representative food and nutrient intake data in the U.S. It provides food and nutrient estimates for not only the general population, but also for specific subgroups including low-income individuals, children, and minority populations. The National Institutes of Health-sponsored HANDLS study allow estimation of food and nutrient intake in populations who have been identified as particularly vulnerable to nutrition-related diseases. FSRG scientists, responsible for the dietary methodology used in NHANES and HANDLS, are expertly positioned to utilize data from these surveys to conduct secondary data analyses. Factors related to healthy food choices and dietary patterns available from these studies across gender/age and socio-demographic groups will be analyzed to 1) scientifically evaluate factors related to adherence of Dietary Guideline recommendations, particularly those that many fail to meet, and identify associations with health benefits; 2) comprehensively explore the variety of meal patterns across the population and population subgroups and establish associations with dietary quality and health risk factors; and 3) investigate associations of flavonoid intake with diet quality and cardiovascular health markers and health outcomes among at-risk adults in the unique HANDLS study. The evidence-based knowledge resulting from this research will also inform Federal policy addressing the nutritional well-being of Americans through future nutrition program needs.
Progress Report
This is the final report for Project No. 8040-53000-020-000D. The major accomplishments over the lifespan of the project are summarized below. Through an ongoing collaboration with the National Center for Health Statistics, Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the Food Surveys Research Group (FSRG) has the lead role for dietary data collection and processing of What We Eat in America (WWEIA), the dietary intake component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). This leadership role for national dietary data collection and processing began in 2002 and continues. This collaboration has produced national dietary data research by the USDA and DHHS. WWEIA, NHANES dietary data for 2017-2018, 2017-March 2020 Prepandemic, and 2021-2023 were jointly released on the web by FSRG and DHHS, totaling more than 50,000 individual dietary intake data records on more than 27,000 Americans.
These data are unlike any other research conducted by the Federal Government. They are used in monitoring the nutritional adequacy of the U.S. population, determining the relationship between dietary intake and health outcomes of the population, measuring the impact of food fortification on nutrient intakes, estimating exposure of population groups to contaminants thru the food system, developing dietary guidance for improved health and well-being with the most prominent being the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and assessing the demand for agricultural products. Linked with health indicators from other components of the NHANES, these data provide evidence of the relationships between eating patterns and health conditions.
WWEIA, NHANES dietary intake data have been analyzed and results have been released on the FSRG website including 56 summarized nutrient intake tables for each 2-year survey data release, comparisons of usual nutrient intakes from food and beverages to the National Academy of Sciences’ Dietary Reference Intakes, 23 peer-reviewed manuscripts in scientific journals, and 40 dietary data briefs on timely topics including added sugar intake in the U.S., potassium intake and dietary sources of potassium in the U.S., adult late evening eating patterns, animal and plant sources of protein intake of adolescents and adults, convenience stores as a source of adult dietary intakes, restaurants as a source of dietary intakes, and flavonoid intakes of individuals. The availability of these tables and data briefs is beneficial in providing dietary survey results to food and nutrition program policy and decision makers in federal, state, local government, researchers at academic institutions, nutrition scientists and educators, and food and agricultural specialists in industry. The tables and data briefs are accessible from www.ars.usda.gov/nea/bhnrc/fsrg.
Training workshops on using WWEIA, NHANES dietary data have been conducted by FSRG at scientific meetings for nutrition and health researchers as well as providing practicum experiences on using WWEIA, NHANES national dietary data for nutrition graduate students.
The Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS), the application database used to convert food and beverages as consumed in WWEIA, NHANES into gram amounts and determine their nutrient values, was developed for each of the two-year WWEIA, NHANES survey data releases during this project period and released on the FSRG website. This included three such releases: FNDDS 2017-2018, FNDDS 2019-2020 and FNDDS 2021-2023. The FNDDS includes item descriptions, more than 22,000 portions and their gram weights, and 65 nutrient values for more than 5,400 foods and beverages typically consumed in the U.S during the timeframe designated by the release. Each FNDDS release consists of 10 unique datasets. A consumer-friendly companion to the FNDDS is the What’s In The Foods You Eat Search Tool which was released on the FSRG website for each FNDDS version. This provides consumers an easy-to-use tool to determine the nutrient content of frequently consumed foods and beverages in more than 22,000 different portions. Over the three releases of FNDDS, foods/beverages, portions, and nutrient values are reviewed and updated. New food and beverages are added based on changes in consumption and the marketplace; additionally, codes are discontinued. A research resource to crosswalk appropriate discontinued food/beverage codes between FNDDS versions to benefit researchers conducting trend analysis or using the FNDDS to support other food intake databases.
Two additional databases that further characterize FNDDS foods and beverages were developed and released online. One is the Food Patterns Equivalents Databases (FPED) for 2017-2018 and FPED for Use with WWEIA, NHANES 2017-March 2020 Prepandemic were completed and released online. The FPED corresponds with specific 2-year data releases of WWEIA, NHANES to provide the analytical basis for researchers to evaluate diets based on the recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Each release has several products including a number of databases and summary table sets on the mean intakes of the 37 Food Patterns Equivalents by 23 age-gender and socioeconomic subgroups. The second one is Flavonoid Values for USDA Survey Foods and Beverages 2017-2018. The Flavonoid Database allows researchers to estimate flavonoid intakes of WWEIA, NHANES dietary data and to identify potential associations between flavonoid intake and health measures of interest. The Flavonoid Database release has several products in addition to the database and its documentation including summary tables that provide daily mean intakes per individual for 29 individual flavonoids in 6 flavonoid classes grouped by 23 age-gender and socioeconomic subgroups for WWEIA, NHANES 2017-2018.
The WWEIA Food Categories, a classification scheme of 170 unique categories, was
developed and released on the FSRG website to provide an application to analyze foods and beverages as consumed in the American diet. A new version of the WWEIA Food Categories was produced for each 2-year release of WWEIA, NHANES. Components of the USDA Dietary Intake Data System have been shared extensively with the research community and were trained by FSRG on using components and/or methodological approaches of the system in their dietary intake research.
Accomplishments
Review Publications
Rhodes, D.G., Morton, S., Myrowitz, R., Moshfegh, A.J. 2023. Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies 2019-2020: An application database for national dietary surveillance. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2023.105547.
Friday, J.E., Myrowitz, R., Rhodes, D.G., Moshfegh, A.J. 2023. Discontinued food codes resource for Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies 2019–2020. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2023.105591.
Waller, A.W., Friday, J.E., Morton, S., Myrowitz, R., Moshfegh, A.J. 2023. Food Patterns Equivalents Database for Use with WWEIA, NHANES 2017-March 2020 Prepandemic. Worldwide Web Site: Food Surveys Research Group. Available: https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-area/beltsville-md-bhnrc/beltsville-human-nutrition-research-center/food-surveys-research-group/docs/fped-databases/.
Moshfegh, A.J., Goldman, J.D., Rhodes, D.G., Friday, J.E. 2023. Usual Nutrient Intake from Food and Beverages, by Gender and Age, What We Eat In America, NHANES 2017-March 2020 Prepandemic. Worldwide Web Site: Food Surveys Research Group. Available: https://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=22659.
Moshfegh, A.J., Goldman, J.D., Rhodes, D.G., Friday, J.E. 2023. Total Usual Nutrient Intake from Food, Beverages, and Dietary Supplements, by Gender and Age, What We Eat In America, NHANES 2017-March 2020 Prepandemic. Worldwide Web Site: Food Surveys Research Group. Available: https://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=22659.
Sebastian, R.S., Goldman, J.D., Moshfegh, A.J. 2023. Dietary Intake and Sources of Flavonoids by Adults in the U.S.: What We Eat In America, NHANES 2017-2018. Worldwide Web Site: Food Surveys Research Group. Available: https://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=19476.