nutrition is conveyed to the public in a meaningful and responsible

manner.

Dr. Sims, the administrator of the Human Nutrition Information Service, will now provide her statement, Mr. Chairman, if it pleases the committee.

[CLERK'S NOTE: Mr. Bode's prepared statement appears on pages 361 through 362.]

Mr. WHITTEN. You may proceed as you wish.

Dr. SIMS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I am pleased to tell you about the program at HNIS and the way that we intend to spend the $8.7 million appropriation which is proposed for Fiscal Year 1988. We plan to continue most of the activities in Fiscal Year 1988 at levels about equal to that which we spent in Fiscal Year 1987. Our applied research supports USDA's commitment and responsibilities to monitoring the dietary status of the American population and to providing sound research-based dietary guidance.

Within USDA we are responsible for the National Nutrition Monitoring System and for the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, both are joint efforts with DHHS. We are the national repository for information on the nutritive value of foods. We conduct national surveys to get information on food consumption by household and by individuals. We assess diets for their nutritional quality and we conduct research to find effective ways to present this dietary information to the public.

The increase which is proposed is mainly for reinstating a Continuing Survey of the Food Intakes by Individuals similar to those that we conducted in 1985 and 1986. The survey was discontinued in 1987 when our larger decennial survey, the Nationwide Food Consumption Survey, was underway.

Continuous monitoring to provide dietary data has been a longterm objective of the Department, and it was part of the implementation plan for the National Nutrition Monitoring System which was presented to Congress in 1981. The continuous monitoring proposed with the 1988 budget will be achieved through a cost-effective moving-average approach which will provide annual data on food and nutrient intakes by the general population and for a special sample of the low-income population.

I particularly want to thank this committee for its continued support of our agency in formulating Federal Dietary Guidance policy. USDA and DHHS jointly support the dietary guidelines for Americans as the current basis of our policy. Within USDA we formed a dietary guidance working group, which has DHHS representation, to help us assure that USDA agencies speak with one voice in presenting their nutrition education message.

Thank you.

[CLERK'S NOTE.-Dr. Sims prepared statement appears on pages 364 through 375. The explanatory notes appear on pages 376 through 384.]

OBJECT CLASS 2500-OTHER SERVICES

Mr. WHITTEN. The FY 1988 budget proposes an increase of $1,271,000 in the object class, "Other Services." For the record,

please provide a list of those activities that will be increased and the reasons for the increases.

Dr. SIMS. We will be pleased to do so.

[The information follows:]

The increase is for the 1989 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII). This survey, initiated in 1985 to provide continuous data on the adequacy of diets of selected high-risk population groups, is part of the National Nutrition Monitoring System. The CSFII was omitted in 1987 and 1988 during data collection for the Nationwide Food Consumption Survey (NFCS). Both the CSFII and the NFCS have been redesigned to reduce costs while maintaining appropriate population coverage.

INCREASED FUNDING FOR EQUIPMENT

Mr. WHITTEN. The budget also requests that funds for equipment be increased from $90,000 to $210,000. What additional equipment will be purchased, leased, and for what functions?

Dr. SIMS. An increase of $120,000 is requested for Automated Data Processing equipment. That Agency's present computer facilities have become outdated and are inefficient relative to the Agency's computer requirements. The Local Area Network System initiated in Fiscal Year 1987 will be completed. This system is especially important to the timely release of survey results.

CONTINUOUS MONITORING

Mr. WHITTEN. According to the explanatory notes (page 31-7), analyses indicate a need for continuous monitoring of the dietary status of all sex and age groups. Please provide for the record a discussion of the need to continue these monitoring efforts.

Dr. SIMS. Sizable shifts in the food and nutrient intakes of adults 19 to 50 years of age and children 1 to 5 years occurred between the 1977-78 Nationwide Food Consumption Survey and the Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals in 1985. We believe that shifts occurred in other population groups as well, although the CSFII was limited to two specific age groups. Continuous monitoring of the diets of all Americans will provide data warning of changes which are needed by the Department for policy decisions relative to its food production and marketing, food assistance, and nutrition education programs. Data are needed especially on groups of Americans at special nutritional risk, such as the elderly, teenage girls, and the low-income population. In addition, research is providing evidence of certain connections between dietary com

ponents and health. Crucial to understanding and using this evidence for improved health of the population is knowledge of the dietary patterns of the population and how these patterns change with age and other characteristics. Continuous monitoring is the only way to obtain this information on a timely basis.

[Additional information follows:]

This need for continuous data was specified in three recent studies: (a) The President's Task Force on Food Assistance, in its report of January 18, 1984, found it very difficult to draw valid conclusions about nutritional needs of the poor because the only data available were old. They made a number of recommendations about steps that should be taken to improve information on the nutritional well-being of the American population. Data from the continuing survey satisfies many of these recommendations; (b) In 1981, the Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) of the National Academy of Sciences, in a study for the Food and Drug Administration, recommended a continuing individual intake survey similar to that which USDA has initiated; (c) In 1983 an FNB committee reviewed the ways in which national survey data on food consumption are used, identified data most needed by users, and recommended ways to meet those needs. One of their major recommendations was that USDA redesign its individual intake survey to provide continuous monitoring of the population through the use of a moving-average approach. The FNB also emphasized that USDA should continue to collect, at a minimum, 3 days of dietary intake to make possible statistical analyses of intraindividual variation.

Congress has expressed its desire to have continuous data collected by including a continuous survey in several bills considered in the past several years, and we expect similar legislation to be introduced in the current Congress. In addition, the Congress, in the Food Security Act of 1985, directed the Department to include a sample of low-income individuals in its Continuing Survey.

NUTRIENTS STUDIED

Mr. WHITTEN. According to the explanatory notes, the number of nutrients studied in this survey has increased to 28, compared with 14 in the 1977-78 survey. Please provide a list of all the nutrients to be studied, identifying the recent additions and the reasons for studying these specific entries.

Dr. SIMS. Food intake data from food consumption surveys are evaluated for nutrient content of the diet. The number of nutrients that can be evaluated depends on data in HNIS's National Nutrient Data Bank (NNDB). In 1977/78, NNDB contained data of sufficient quality to evaluate food energy and 14 nutrients: protein, total fat, carbohydrate, vitamin A (as international units), ascorbic acid, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and iron.

By 1985, when the Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals was initiated, sufficient data were available for 14 additional nutrients and dietary components. These are saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, cholesterol, dietary fiber, vitamin A (as retinol equivalents), carotene, vitamin E, folacin, zinc, copper, sodium, potassium, and alcohol. Many of these (especially fat, cholesterol, fiber, vitamin A, carotene, and sodium) are of current importance in the study of a diet/health connection.

In 1989, based on research in Fiscal Years 1986 and 1987, the NNDB will have adequate data to evaluate diets for selenium-a dietary component of interest in the study of diet and cancer.

JOINT NUTRITION MONITORING EVALUATION COMMITTEE (JNMEC)

Mr. WHITTEN. For the record please provide a summary of the major recommendations from the report of the Joint Nutrition Monitoring Evaluation Committee.

Dr. SIMS. We will provide for the record a summary of the major recommendations of the Joint Nutrition Monitoring Evaluation Committee.

[The information follows:]

Improve Information Exchange between Data Users and Gatherers

(1) Establish a mechanism for learning more about the data needs of users, especially Federal agencies.

(2) Sponsor periodic conferences related to survey design and data analysis. (3) Increase the availability of nutrition information from Federal surveys.

(4) Establish a listing of data bases, including methods and techniques related to food, nutrition, and health.

Increase Use of Data Collected under the National Nutrition Monitoring System

(5) Provide resources for policy-relevant analyses of existing data.

(6) Provide adequate and uniform documentation of data files.

(7) Improve comparability of data. Mechanisms should be developed through which information from different data systems can be integrated and results reported in a comparable manner.

(8) Improve timely publication of data.

Improve Methods and Techniques for Gathering Information for Assessing Nutritional Status

(9) Continue and expand efforts to study that factors the influence food intake and nutritional status, especially among high-risk subgroups.

(10) Improve coverage of minority and low-income populations in activities of the National Nutrition Monitoring System.

(11) Evaluate the feasibility of developing indicators for monitoring changes in food consumption and nutritional status.

(12) Increase research to improve methods for assessing dietary intake and nutritional status.

Increase Resources for the National Nutrition Monitoring System

(13) Provide adequate resources for the National Nutrition Monitoring System to implement these recommendations and for the Committee, which is charged with interpreting the data collected by this system and also with assessing the need for improvements in the system.

(14) Identify potential sources of complementary data for the National Nutrition Monitoring System.

AGRICULTURE HANDBOOK NO. 8

Mr. WHITTEN. Please provide for the record copies of the revised Agriculture Handbook No. 8 on beef products and on beverages. Dr. SIMS. We are happy to provide for the record copies of Agriculture Handbook No. 8-13, Beef Products . . . raw, processed prepared; No. 8-14, Beverages; and No. 8-16, Legumes and Legume Products.

[CLERK'S NOTE.-The reports are too lengthy to be reprinted in the record. Copies will be retained in the files.]

USDA/DHHS SURVEYS DIFFERENCES

Mr. WHITTEN. Please provide in some detail a description of the differences between your work and that of the National Health and Examination Surveys.

Dr. SIMS. The fundamental purposes of the Nationwide Food Consumption Survey (NFCS) and/or Continuing Survey of Food In

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takes by Individuals (CSFII) are to measure the food and nutrient content and the money value of food used by U.S. households (NFCS only) and the food and nutrient intakes at home and away from home by individuals, and to provide information on the interrelationships of dietary patterns and the nutritional adequacy of diets. The fundamental purposes of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) are to develop information on the total prevalence of a disease condition or physical state; to provide descriptive or normative information; and to provide information on the interrelationships of health and nutrition in the population.

NFCS is the only survey of the three that collects data on food use by the entire household, as well as food intake by individuals. The CSFII and NHANES collect data only on individual food intake. Thus the data from the NFCS are the most comprehensive dietary data available in the United States and provide the only data on food consumption of U.S. households in terms of food, dollars, and nutrients-data basic to policy decisions related to Food Stamp and Food Distribution Programs and for food demand determinations.

Data on dietary status are collected in both the NFCS and the CSFII. Research indicates that data on individual food intakes for more than 1 day are needed to report dietary status of an individual for comparison with standards such as the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) and to estimate intra-individual variation. Both the NFCS 1987 and plans for the CSFII 1989 include the collection of 3 days of intake data. Neither the 1 day of dietary data nor the information on the frequency of eating selected foods collected in previous NHANES surveys has been sufficient for use in estimating the proportion of intakes that fall below the RDA or other standards. I will supply additional information for the record. [The information follows:]

The 3-day dietary intake collected in NFCS and CSFII is needed for a variety of purposes. None of the purposes listed below can be met by the NHANES 1-day dietary intake:

To estimate or indicate an individual's typical dietary intake.

To determine and intra-individual variation; that is, how food intakes (and nutrient intakes) vary over several days for one individual.

To estimate the prevalence of individuals with diets that fail to meet nutritional standards and what food intakes are associated with such "poor" quality diets. To examine, for individuals, the use of infrequently consumed foods.

To examine the distribution of individuals with nutrient intakes relative to established standards such as the RDA.

To examine the range of "usual" intakes of specific nutrients.

Several other differences exist between the surveys. The NFCS/CSFII data can be analyzed by season, while the NHANES cannot. Also, the NFCS/CSFII includes extensive published information on food intakes by individuals; NHANES publishes little or none. The information on what foods are actually eaten is used extensively by the Department, by educators, by researchers at universities, and by the food industry.

METHODOLOGY

The NFCS is a cross-sectional household survey, conducted over a 1-year period, approximately every 10 years. This survey collects 7 days of data on household use of food (food as purchased or otherwise obtained for household consumption) and 3 days of data on the intake of food (food ingested at home and away from home) by individuals in the household. The 7-day collection period of household food use is