NANS Ireland National Adult Nutrition Survey Database – Intake and Exposure Datasets

The data collected by NANS 2011 survey is also aimed to feed a sister project, the National Nutrition Phenotype Database for further analysis of the nutritional status and metabolic indicators. The National Adult Nutrition Survey 2011, Ireland is a cross-sectional study that investigated the habitual food and beverage consumption, lifestyle, and health indicators and attitudes to food and health of adults older than 18 years in the Republic of Ireland during the period of 2008-2010. The survey was conducted by the Irish Universities Nutrition Alliance (IUNA), a consortium of academic nutrition centres at University College Cork, University College Dublin, Trinity College and the University of Ulster. The study was funded by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food as part of the Food Institutional Research Measure under the Food for Health Research Initiative (FHRI).

The National Adult Nutrition Survey 2011 (NANS 2011) contains a collection of information and data on dietary intake, health and lifestyle behaviours of free-living adults of the Republic of Ireland. 1500 total adults (740 men, 760 women) participated in the survey study, and the age range was from 18 to 90 years. The sampled participants were representative of adults in Ireland with respect to age, gender, social class, and urban/rural location relative to the 2006 census. 

A four-day semi-weighed food record was used to determine the food intake. The study participants were asked to record detailed information on the amount and type of all foods, drinks and nutritional supplements consumed over four consecutive days in a food diary. A researcher visited the participants in their homes or workplaces three times during the survey period to ensure the accuracy of the recording. Individuals were asked to weigh as many food items as possible, and a photographic food atlas was also used to assign weights to foods. For additional details, they were encouraged to keep the food packaging. Three self-administered questionnaires were used to gain information on social and demographic variables, employment, attitudes to food and health, supplement use, alcohol consumption, smoking and habitual physical activity levels. Additional information on physical activity was obtained by asking participants to wear an actigraph (a small attached device to digitally record energy expenditure) over the survey period. Blood pressure, body weight, height,  hip circumference, and body composition were measured for all individuals by the researcher. Participants were asked to provide a fasting blood sample and first void urine sample to a nurse at a designated centre within the survey area after the diary recording period had ended. The blood samples were used to assess the nutritional status of the population and metabolic indicators of health. The urine samples were used to estimate sodium intake, which is difficult to estimate from food intake data alone. Blood and urine data were compiled into a database which was merged with the food intake database for further analyses.