Results of the NVS II on food consumption and nutrient intake
- Results based on 24-h recalls
Recommended if you would like to refer to results on food consumption and energy and nutrient intake. Further results of the NVS II obtained with 24-h recalls can be found in the Nutrition Report 2012 of the German Nutrition Society. - Results based on diet history interviews
- Weighed food records were conducted by a subgroup of 976 NVS II participants. Due to the smaller number of participants, these data are not intended for the evaluation of food consumption and nutrient intake at population level but are used to answer specific questions e.g. for risk assessment.
Background information on the results
Why are the results based on 24-h recalls recommended for the evaluation of food consumption and energy and nutrient intake in Germany?
For reasons of comparability in Europe, the use of 24-h recalls is recommended for the survey of large population groups. Within the framework of the longitudinal study NEMONIT, 24-h recalls were also used. Thus, the results of NEMONIT and the NVS II can be compared easily.
Why were different dietary assessment methods applied?
True food consumption is so complex that no dietary assessment method can depict it completely. The three methods applied in the NVS II offer the possibility to pick the most suitable method for answering a given scientific question.
Further information on the applied dietary assessment methods can be found here:
Is one of the applied dietary assessment methods better suited to record food consumption than the others?
All three methods used are internationally applied and accepted methods for recording food consumption. Each dietary assessment method has its specific advantages and disadvantages. For example, questions on the habitual diet of individuals can be answered best with the diet history interviews. If detailed information on food is needed, e.g. the percentage of fat content or the type/degree of food processing, the results of 24-h recalls or weighed food records are suitable. However, weighed food records are very time-consuming to carry out and to evaluate and were therefore only used for a smaller number of participants.
Do the results of the three dietary assessment methods differ?
In general, the results of all three methods show good agreement. Greater deviations are observed for the food groups fruit and vegetables. Here, higher consumption quantities were determined by diet history interviews compared to 24-h recalls and weighed food records. This is possibly due to the long reference period of four weeks for the diet history interviews, which can lead to difficulties in estimating the quantities consumed.
Straßburg A, Eisinger-Watzl M, Krems C, Roth A, Hoffmann I: Comparison of food consumption and nutrient intake assessed with three dietary assessment methods: results of the German National Nutrition Survey II, European Journal of Nutrition, 58, 193–210, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-017-1583-z
Do the results of the three dietary assessment methods refer to the same subjects and the same survey period?
All interviews took place in the period from November 2005 to January 2007. A total of 19,329 subjects participated in the NVS II. Of these, 15,371 participants conducted diet history interviews at the study centres. 13,926 participants were interviewed by telephone using 24-h recalls, and 976 study participants kept weighed food records at home.
Are the results of the diet history interviews still valid?
Although the results based on 24-h recalls are recommended for reasons of comparability at the European level, the results of the diet history interviews are still valid. They will also be used to answer scientific questions in the future.