Project
NDARD - a National Dietary Assessment Reference Database
Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQs) are commonly used to collect dietary intake information. Ideally, an FFQ is generated using information on dietary intake of a large representative sample.
The Dutch FFQ tool now uses information of the Dutch National Food Consumption Survey VCP (Voedsel Consumptie Peiling) 1998. However, the VCP 1998 is not only out-dated, it also lacks sufficient information on the individual variation of intake and food pattern. Furthermore, to be able to evaluate the occurrence of under- and over-reporting, objective information as obtained from biochemical markers (biomarkers of intake) is needed.
For the reason of the aforementioned limitations, Professor Edith Feskens started the NDARD-project. One of the main aims of this project is to develop NDARD, a database to generate and validate FFQs for various research purposes, either etiologic research (epidemiology) and nutrition monitoring (public health), focusing not only on specific foods or nutrients (e.g. total fat or omega-3 fatty acids), but also on dietary patterns. NDARD is the acronym for National Dietary Assessment Reference Database.
Between May 2011 and February 2013, 2048 Dutch men and women (20-70 years) were included in the NDARD-database. Measurements consisted of two dietary assessment methods (i.e. FFQ and 24h-recall), a venepuncture (i.e. to assess nutritional biomarkers of intake in serum/plasma/whole blood), and 24-hour urine collection (i.e. to assess nutritional biomarkers of intake in urine). All measurements were repeated at 1 and 2 years of follow-up.
More research: Metabolic health
More research: Nutrition and metabolic syndrome