Reorganization of the British total diet study for monitoring food constituents from 1981.

A total diet study was developed in the UK in the 1960s to enable the estimation of average intakes of different food constituents of public interest. Since that time the organization of the total diet study has twice been modified, firstly in 1975 and more extensively in 1981. The study now includes 115 foods in 20 groups compared to 68 foods in nine groups in the previous design, and reflects more recent food consumption patterns. The food is purchased in preselected parts of the country by a market research company and the preparation of the diets has been centralized in one laboratory instead of being undertaken by domestic science colleges located in many areas. The reorganization is described and the new total diet study is validated by comparison with a study of the previous design.