Aligning Dietary Intake and Food Purchases in U.S. Older Adults: Insights from NHANES and Circana Consumer Network

Authors: EL-ABBADI, NAGLAA - Tufts University; RUTT, JOSHUA - Tufts University; LEHR, MARCUS - Tufts University; NUSETOR, FREDERICK - Tufts University; MORAGA FRANCO, CRISTINA - Tufts University; CARLSON, ANDREA - Economic Research Serivce (ERS, USDA); SHEA, M. KYLA - Tufts University; Lai, Chao Qiang; Parnell, Laurence; MILLER, ERIC - Tufts University; ORDOVAS, JOSE - Tufts University

Submitted to: Current Developments in Nutrition
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/25/2026
Publication Date: 6/29/2026
Citation: El-Abbadi, N.H., Rutt, J., Lehr, M., Nusetor, F., Moraga Franco, C., Carlson, A.C., Shea, M., Lai, C., Parnell, L.D., Miller, E., Ordovas, J.M. 2026. Aligning Dietary Intake and Food Purchases in U.S. Older Adults: Insights from NHANES and Circana Consumer Network. Current Developments in Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2026.109421.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2026.109421

Interpretive Summary: Tracking the nutritional status and dietary needs of older adults in the U.S. is vital to the ability to support healthy aging. Having multiple dietary data sources helps provide better coverage than relying on a single dataset, particularly when those data can capture different types of information. The purpose of this study was to compare two national datasets – one for self-reported food intake, and one of recorded household food purchases – for U.S. adults aged 55+ years. We looked at diet quality using the Healthy Eating Index as well as food group proportions. Results from both datasets showed that older adults generally do not meet dietary recommendations – particularly for whole grains, fruits, and green vegetables. However, while food intake reports and food purchases were mostly similar between the datasets, there were particular food groups that did not align – primarily: mixed foods, condiments, and snacks & sweets. This points to the benefits of having multiple sources of dietary data in order to capture these nuances better, and provide more complete insights into older adults’ dietary behaviors.

Technical Abstract: Background: Diet quality is a key determinant of healthy aging, yet accurately assessing dietary intake remains a challenge largely due to challenges in integrating information from methodologically distinct national datasets. For example, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) captures self-reported dietary intake using 1-2 days of 24-hr recall, while the Circana Consumer Network (CN) records year-long grocery purchases from approximately 60,000 U.S. households. Objective: To evaluate whether dietary intake reported in NHANES 2017–2018 align with food purchase trends in CN 2018 among U.S. adults aged 55 years and older. Methods: We examined self-reported dietary intake of grocery/store-bought foods from 24-hour recalls in NHANES (n=1,950 individuals) and household grocery purchases from 1- and 2-person households in CN (n=29,192 households), analyzed by sex and age group (55–64, 65–74, 75+). Healthfulness of food intake/purchases were assessed using the 2015 Healthy Eating Index (HEI), and food group proportion was evaluated by percent weight (g) and energy (kcal). Results: Mean total HEI scores were modest and comparable across datasets (NHANES: 55.7±0.9; CN: 51.3±0.1). Both sources demonstrated moderate agreement in HEI scores in most categories, and revealed consistent shortfalls in Total/Whole Fruit, Greens & Beans, Whole Grains, and Saturated Fat moderation. Food group proportions had <10% difference across most categories by both mass and energy, though there were higher discrepancies for mixed dishes, condiments, and snacks/sweets. Differences were more pronounced in NHANES by age and sex compared to CN. Conclusions: Across the two datasets, dietary intake and food purchase data show moderate concordance in overall diet quality but diverge in specific food categories. Integrating purchase records with recalls could provide more complete insights into older adults’ dietary behaviors. Future work should link these complementary data streams to inform precision nutrition strategies and strengthen dietary surveillance for healthy aging.