National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
Eur J Clin Nutr. 2011 Jul;65 Suppl 1:S102-7. doi: 10.1038/ejcn.2011.94.
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: To outline and discuss the main results and conclusions of the European Food Consumption Validation (EFCOVAL) Project.
SUBJECTS/METHODS: The EFCOVAL Project was carried out within the EU Sixth Framework Program by researchers in 11 EU countries. The activities focused on (1) the further development of the EPIC-Soft software (the software developed to conduct 24-h dietary recalls (24-HDRs) in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) Study) and the validation of the 2-day non-consecutive 24-HDR method using EPIC-Soft, (2) defining and investigating the applicability of the most appropriate dietary assessment method to younger age groups and expanding the applicability of the software for use in exposure assessment of some potentially hazardous chemicals and (3) to improve the methodology and statistical methods that estimate usual intake distributions from short-term dietary intake information and develop a methodology to quantify uncertainty in usual intake distributions.
The preexisting EPIC-Soft application was reprogrammed into a Windows environment and more than 60 new specifications were implemented in the software. A validation study showed that two non-consecutive EPIC-Soft 24-HDRs are suitable to estimate the usual intake distributions of protein and potassium of European adult populations. The 2-day non-consecutive 24-HDRs in combination with a food propensity questionnaire also appeared to be appropriate to rank individuals according to their fish and fruit and vegetable intake in a comparable way in five European centers. Dietary intake of (young) children can be assessed by the combination of EPIC-Soft 24-HDRs and food recording booklets. The EPIC-Soft-standardized method of describing foods is useful to estimate dietary exposure to potentially hazardous chemicals such as specific flavoring substances. With the developed Multiple Source Method, repeated non-consecutive 24-HDR data in combination with food propensity data can be used to estimate the population distribution of the usual intake by estimating the individual usual intakes.
The findings provide sufficient evidence to conclude that the repeated 24-HDR using EPIC-Soft for standardization in combination with a food propensity questionnaire and modeling of usual intake is a suitable method for pan-European surveillance of nutritional adequacy and food safety among healthy adults and maybe in children aged 7 years and older. To facilitate this methodology in other European countries, the next step is to provide and standardize an implementation plan that accounts for maintenance and updates, sampling designs, national surveillance programs, tailored capacity building and training, and linkage to food composition and occurrence databases.
背景/目的：概述并讨论欧洲食品消费验证（EFCOVAL）项目的主要结果和结论。
对象/方法：EFCOVAL 项目由 11 个欧盟国家的研究人员在欧盟第六框架计划内开展。活动重点在于：（1）进一步开发 EPIC-Soft 软件（用于在欧洲癌症与营养前瞻性调查（EPIC）中进行 24 小时膳食回顾（24-HDR）的软件），并使用 EPIC-Soft 验证 2 天非连续 24-HDR 方法的有效性；（2）定义和研究最适用于年轻人群的饮食评估方法，并扩展软件在某些潜在危险化学物质暴露评估中的适用性；（3）改进从短期饮食摄入信息估计通常摄入量分布的方法和统计方法，并开发一种量化通常摄入量分布不确定性的方法。
对预存的 EPIC-Soft 应用程序进行了重新编程，使其适用于 Windows 环境，并在软件中实现了 60 多个新规范。一项验证研究表明，两次非连续的 EPIC-Soft 24-HDR 适用于估计欧洲成年人群的蛋白质和钾的通常摄入量分布。2 天非连续 24-HDR 与食物倾向问卷相结合，也似乎适用于在五个欧洲中心以类似的方式根据鱼类、水果和蔬菜的摄入量对个体进行排名。（年幼）儿童的饮食摄入可以通过 EPIC-Soft 24-HDR 与食物记录手册的结合来评估。EPIC-Soft 标准化的食物描述方法可用于估计潜在危险化学物质（如特定调味物质）的膳食暴露。使用开发的多源方法，可以结合食物倾向数据使用重复的非连续 24-HDR 数据来估计个体通常摄入量，从而估计人群的通常摄入量分布。
研究结果为以下结论提供了充分的证据：使用 EPIC-Soft 进行标准化并结合食物倾向问卷和通常摄入量建模的重复 24-HDR 是一种适用于欧洲范围内监测健康成年人营养充足性和食品安全的方法，可能也适用于 7 岁及以上的儿童。为了在其他欧洲国家推广这种方法，下一步是提供并标准化一个考虑到维护和更新、抽样设计、国家监测计划、定制能力建设和培训以及与食物成分和发生数据库的链接的实施计划。
