Food balance sheet and household budget survey dietary data and mortality patterns in Europe.

Worldwide dietary data for nutrition monitoring and surveillance are commonly derived from food balance sheets (FBS) and household budget surveys (HBS). We have compared food supply from FBS and food availability data from HBS among eighteen European countries and have estimated the extent to which they correlate, focusing on food groups which are comparably captured by FBS and HBS and for which there is epidemiological evidence that they can have a noticeable impact on population mortality. Spearman's correlation coefficient was +0.

Dietary patterns and their socio-demographic determinants in 10 European countries: data from the DAFNE databank.

Objective: To describe the dietary patterns of 10 European countries and their socio-demographic determinants, using the comparable between-countries DAFNE data.

Design: Analysis of standardized and postharmonized data collected through the national household budget surveys.

Setting: Nationally representative surveys undertaken in 10 European countries, generally in the second half of the 1990s.

Methodology for rendering household budget and individual nutrition surveys comparable, at the level of the dietary information collected.

Objective: To describe the methodology applied in order to render comparable, at the level of the dietary information collected, the household budget survey (HBS) and individual nutrition survey (INS) data from four European countries (Belgium, Greece, Norway and the United Kingdom).

Setting: In Belgium, data from the HBS of 1987-88 were compared with data from the Belgian Interuniversity Research on Nutrition and Health collected from 1980 to 1985. In Greece, data from the HBS undertaken in 1993-94 in the greater Athens area were compared with data collected around 1994 in the same region, in the context of the Greek segment of the European Prospective Investigation on Cancer and Nutrition study.

Fruit and vegetable availability among ten European countries: how does it compare with the 'five-a-day' recommendation? DAFNE I and II projects of the European Commission.

Recasting the role of fruit and vegetables (F&V) in the diet, and planning national and international campaigns to enhance their consumption are major public health service objectives. The present study seeks to describe F&V availability patterns in ten European countries and examine compliance with current recommendations. The mean and median F&V availability (g/person per d) was estimated based on household budget survey data retrieved from the Data Food Networking (DAFNE) databank.