ABSTRACT
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................. 451 History of Nutrition Monitoring ............................................................................................................................................ 452
Beginnings .......................................................................................................................................................................... 452 The 1990 Act and Beyond .................................................................................................................................................. 452 Current Status ..................................................................................................................................................................... 453
Nutrition Monitoring Surveys and Surveillance Activities ..................................................................................................... 453 Nutrition and Related Health Measurements ..................................................................................................................... 453 Food and Nutrient Consumption ........................................................................................................................................ 456 Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavior Assessments ............................................................................................................ 457 Food Composition and Nutrient Databases ........................................................................................................................ 458 Progress in Food Composition Data and Databases .......................................................................................................... 458 Food-Supply Determinations ............................................................................................................................................. 459
Uses of Nutrition Monitoring Data ......................................................................................................................................... 459 Tracking National Progress ............................................................................................................................................... 460 Nutrition Education ............................................................................................................................................................ 460 Food Assistance/Security ................................................................................................................................................... 460 Dietary/Nutrition Standards ............................................................................................................................................... 461 Regulatory Activities .......................................................................................................................................................... 461 Research Opportunities ...................................................................................................................................................... 461
Future Challenges ................................................................................................................................................................... 462 Changes in the Food Supply ............................................................................................................................................. 462 Demographics of the United States ................................................................................................................................... 462 Dietary and Lifestyle Behaviors ........................................................................................................................................ 462
Conclusions ............................................................................................................................................................................. 463 Acronyms Used in Text ........................................................................................................................................................... 463 References ............................................................................................................................................................................... 464
Most descriptions of nutrition monitoring use the comprehensive defi nition developed by Mason et al. in 1984, “an ongoing description of nutrition conditions in the population, with particular attention to subgroups defi ned in socioeconomic terms, for purposes of planning and analyzing the effects of policies and programs on nutrition problems, and predicting future trends.”1 In the United States, nutrition monitoring refers to the many federal and state surveys and surveillance activities that provide information about food composition, food consumption, nutrition status, or health status. These surveys and activities were fi rst identifi ed as the U.S. National Nutrition Monitoring System in 1978, and were renamed as the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Program (NNMRRP) with the passage of the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act of 1990.2 Although the act expired in 2002 and has not been reauthorized, many of the surveys and activities of the NNMRRP are still ongoing, and federal and state agencies continue to work together to produce and disseminate information about food composition and consumption and about nutrition and health status.
