
"What We Eat in America" Survey--Results and Future DirectionBy Judy McBride August
13, 1998What percentage of Americans eat snacks on any given day? What age group
eats the most snacks? And how does one apply the new Dietary Reference Intakes
(DRI's)--the replacement for Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA's)--to
populations? These are some of the questions to be answered at a two-day
conference, "What We Eat in America--Research & Results," Sept.
14-15. Sponsored by the Food Surveys Research Group (FSRG), which conducts the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's nationwide food consumption survey, the conference
will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the DoubleTree Hotel in Rockville,
Maryland. The conference is free, but preregistration is required. Attendees will get a behind-the-scenes look at preparations for the next
USDA nationwide survey that will begin in 1999. And they will learn about plans
to integrate the USDA survey with the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services' National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to become
the National Food and Nutrition Survey. Allison Yates, director of the National Academy of Science's Food and
Nutrition Board, will give the keynote address Monday morning on nutrition today
and implications for the future. Thirty other speakers from USDA, other federal agencies and academia will
discuss American eating patterns, nutritional knowledge and survey methods from
soup to nuts. Policymakers rely on the USDA and NHANES surveys to develop
nutritional education programs and food assistance programs, among their many
uses. Speakers will present some new findings from the 1994-96 survey--known as "What
We Eat in America"--and from the accompanying Diet and Health Knowledge
Survey, says conference co-chair Rhonda Sebastian. The latter shows just how
much or little we Americans know about eating for good health. All data from
these surveys are summarized on a new CD-ROM to be released at the conference.
The entire program and registration information is on the Food Surveys
Research Group Web site: http://www.barc.usda.gov/bhnrc/foodsurvey/home.htm The site received the highestrating from the Tufts University Nutrition
Navigator--the first online rating guide evaluating nutrition Web sites based on
accuracy, depth and usefulness of information. Contact: Rhonda Sebastian, Food Surveys Research Group, Beltsville
Human Nutrition Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, 4700 Rover Road,
Unit 83, Riverdale, MD 20737, phone (301) 734-8482, fax (301) 7345496,
rsebastian@rbhnrc. usda.gov. U.S. Department of Agriculture | |