Nutrition Monitoring

The National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Program consists of a network of surveys, surveillance systems, and research activities that serves various purposes. It provides researchers and decisionmakers with data for assessing the safety of the nation's food supply, targeting food assistance to low-income families, and studying the relationship between diet and disease. The program has been criticized, however, for the lack of coordination among the various activities and its poor coverage of populations at risk of nutritional problems. GAO surveyed users of nutrition-monitoring data. This report (1) describes the users and the major uses of nutrition-monitoring data and (2) summarizes user satisfaction with nutrition-monitoring activities and the changes that users believe are likely to increase their use of, or confidence in, the data.

GAO found that: (1) the 440 primary users responding to the survey worked in a variety of settings, including federal, state, and local government, academic institutions, and for-profit businesses; (2) these users used nutrition monitoring data to identify nutritional problems, evaluate food-and-nutrition-related programs and policies, support basic, methodological research, and support state and local surveillance activities; and (3) the majority of the users reported that the data collection systems met most of their information and data quality needs, but they suggested the need for improved dietary intake methods, more continuous data collection, better coverage of subpopulations and small geographic areas, improved timeliness and documentation of nutrition data, and increased dissemination of data in formats that facilitate better access and analysis.