Reusability of Germany´s total diet study food list upon availability of new food consumption data-comparison of three update strategies.

BACKGROUND

The German total diet study (TDS)-BfR MEAL Study-established its food list in 2016 based on food consumption data of children (0.5-<5 years) and adults (14-80 years). The list consists of 356 foods selected for analysis in order to ensure ≥90% coverage of the diet. Recently, new food consumption data for children (0.5-<6 and 6-<12 years) in Germany became available, which raised the opportunity to evaluate the applicability of the MEAL food list 2016 on new data.

OBJECTIVE

We tested the hypotheses that the MEAL food list 2016 also covers ≥90% of the diet of the new collected food consumption data, and that the selection of foods from younger children and adults was sufficient to also cover the middle age group (6-<12 years). Strategies for updating the existing food list were assessed.

METHODS

Three approaches evaluated the reusability and potential adjustment strategies of the existing food list. Approach 1 applied the existing food list to new food consumption data. Approach 2 allowed the extension of the existing food list to improve coverage of food consumption. Approach 3 set up a new food list based on the new data.

RESULTS

The MEAL food list 2016 covered 94% of the overall diet of the new collected food consumption data. The diet of the middle age group was sufficiently covered with 91%. However, coverage on main food group or population subgroup level was <90% in some cases. Approach 3 most accurately identified relevant modifications to the existing food list. 94% of the MEAL food list 2016 could be re-used and 51 new foods were identified as potentially relevant.

SIGNIFICANCE

The results suggest that a high investment in the coverage of a TDS food list will lower the effort and the resources to keep data updated in the long-term.

IMPACT

There is no established approach to update a TDS food list. This study provides comparative approaches to handle newly collected food consumption data for follow-on TDS activities. The results provide useful information for institutions planning or updating a TDS. Furthermore, new food consumption data for children in Germany recently became available and are here presented for the first time.