In a study published in the peer-reviewed open access journal PLOS one, Edward Archer, exercise scientist and epidemiologist, and his colleagues report that the consumption data collected by the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) is likely to be flawed. The researchers from the Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, U.S. used information on height, weight, age and sex to predict energy intake and compared the results to reported caloric intake. They examined data from 28 993 men and 34 369 women between 20 and 74 years collected between 1971 and 2010. Most of the self-reported data turned out to be significantly lower than what would have been predicted by the calculated basal metabolic rate (BMR) and thereby physiologically implausible. It results from this study that exposure data estimated using NHANES nutritional intake data is likely to underestimate true exposure to environmental chemicals including that to food contact substances.

Reference

Archer, E. et al. (2013). “Validity of U.S. Nutritional Surveillance: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Caloric Energy Intake Data, 1971–2010”. PLOS one 8, 10, e76632.

Share