Belgian national food consumption survey in adolescents and adults

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Published on: Wed, 01 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0200

The Belgian national food consumption data collection in adolescents and adults was a part of the second Belgian general national food consumption survey, BNFCS2014, in 2014‐2015 (3‐64 years). In addition to food consumption data, information concerning eating habits, food safety, physical activity, sedentary behaviour and health was collected. As the project was included in the EU Menu Project, the methodology of the survey followed to a large extent the EFSA guidance on the EU Menu methodology.A representative sample of the Belgian population aged 10 to 64 years old was randomly selected from the National Population Register following a multistage stratified sampling procedure. The participation rate to the general survey, BNFCS2014, was 37%. Ultimately, about 2200 individuals were included in the survey of which about 1000 were adolescents and 1200 were adults. Data collection was divided equally over the four seasons and all days of the week in order to incorporate seasonal effects and day‐to‐day variation in food intake.Information on food intake was collected with two non‐consecutive 24‐hour dietary recalls (using the GloboDiet^® software).This was complemented with a food propensity questionnaire. Body weight and height were measured. In addition, adolescents wore an accelerometer and kept a logbook for seven consecutive days to objectively measure physical activity and sedentary behaviour.Data from the survey will be very valuable for national risk assessments, nutritional studies and the development and evaluation of nutrition or health policies. The food consumption data was also coded according to the FoodEx2 classification and will be included in the EFSA Comprehensive European Food Consumption database.