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Original research
Global Dietary Database 2017: data availability and gaps on 54 major foods, beverages and nutrients among 5.6 million children and adults from 1220 surveys worldwide
  1. Victoria Miller1,
  2. Gitanjali M Singh1,
  3. Jennifer Onopa2,
  4. Julia Reedy1,
  5. Peilin Shi1,
  6. Jianyi Zhang1,
  7. Adeem Tahira1,
  8. Masha L Shulkin Morris3,
  9. Daniel P Marsden4,
  10. Sarah Kranz1,
  11. Sally Stoyell5,
  12. Patrick Webb1,
  13. Renata Micha1,
  14. Dariush Mozaffarian1
  1. 1Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
  2. 2Penn State University, State College, Pennsylvania, USA
  3. 3University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
  4. 4The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
  5. 5University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Victoria Miller; victoria.miller{at}tufts.edu

Abstract

Background We aimed to systematically identify, standardise and disseminate individual-level dietary intake surveys from up to 207 countries for 54 foods, beverages and nutrients, including subnational intakes by age, sex, education and urban/rural residence, from 1980 to 2015.

Methods Between 2008–2011 and 2014–2020, the Global Dietary Database (GDD) project systematically searched for surveys assessing individual-level intake worldwide. We prioritised nationally or subnationally representative surveys using 24-hour recalls, Food-Frequency Questionnaires or short standardised questionnaires. Data were retrieved from websites or corresponding members as individual-level food group microdata or aggregate stratum-level data. Standardisation included quality assessment; data cleaning; categorising of foods and nutrients and their units; aggregation by demographic strata and energy adjustment.

Results We standardised and incorporated 1220 surveys into the final GDD 2017 database, together represented 188 countries and 99.0% of the world’s population in 2015. 72.1% were nationally, 17.0% subnationally, and 10.9% community-level representative. 41.2% used Food-Frequency Questionnaires; 23.4%, 24-hour recalls; 15.8%, Demographic Health Survey questionnaires; 13.1%, biomarkers and 6.4%, household surveys. 73.9% of surveys included data on children; 52.2%, by urban and rural residence; and 30.2%, by education. Most surveys were in high-income countries, followed by sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Most commonly ascertained foods were fruits (N=803 surveys), non-starchy vegetables (N=787) and sugar-sweetened beverages (N=440); and nutrients, sodium (N=343), energy (N=256), calcium (N=224) and fibre (N=200). Least available data were on iodine, vitamin A, plant protein, selenium, added sugar and animal protein.

Conclusions This systematic search, retrieval and standardised effort provides the most comprehensive empirical evidence on dietary intakes across and within countries worldwide.

  • epidemiology
  • nutrition
  • public health
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003585

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    Footnotes

    • Handling editor Seye Abimbola

    • Collaborators on behalf of the Global Dietary Database the GDD 2017 CORRESPONDING MEMBERS Pamela Abbott; Morteza Abdollahi, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute (NNFTRI): SBMU; Parvin Abedi, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences; Suhad Abumweis, The Hashemite University; Linda Adair; Swee Ai Ng; Mohannad Al Nsour, Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network: EMPHNET; Iftikhar Alam, BKUC.edu.pk; Nasser Al-Daghri, King Saud University; Nawal Al-Hamad, Ministry of Health; Suad Al-Hooti, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research; Eman Alissa, King Abdulaziz University; Sameer Al-Zenki; Simon Anderson, University of Manchester; Karim Anzid, Cadi Ayyad University; Carukshi Arambepola, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka; Mustafa Arici, Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine; Joanne Arsenault, University of California, Davis; Renzo Asciak; Lajos Biró; Noël Barengo, Herbert Wetheim College of Medicine; Simon Barquera, Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica; Murat Bas, Acibadem University; Wulf Becker; Sigrid Beer-Borst; Per Bergman, Livsmedelsverket; Sesikeran Boindala, National Institute of Nutrition India; Pascal Bovet, Intitute of Soical and Preventive Medicine, Univeresity of Lausanne, Switzerland AND Ministry of Health, Republic of Seychelles; Debbie Bradshaw; Noriklil Bukhary Ismail Bukhary, Ministry of Health (Malaysia); Kanitta Bundhamcharoen; Mauricio Caballero, Fundacion Infant; Neville Calleja, Directorate for Health Information & Research; Xia Cao; Mario Capanzana, Food and Nutrition Research Institute, Dept. of Science and Technology; Jan Carmikle, Senior Intellectual Property Office; Katia Castetbon, Institut de Veille Sanitaire; Michelle Castro, Departamento de Alimentação Escolar; Corazon Cerdena; Hsing-Yi Chang, National Health Research Institutes; Karen Charlton; Yu Chen, NYU School of Medicine; Shashi Chiplonkar, HC Jehangir Medical Research Institute, Pune India; Yoonsu Cho, Korea University; Khun-Aik Chuah; Simona Costanzo, IRCCS INM Neuromed; Melanie Cowan; Albertino Damasceno, Faculty of Medicine, Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo, Mozambique; Saeed Dastgiri, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences; Stefaan De Henauw, Ghent University; Karin DeRidder, Belgian Public Health Institute; Eric Ding, Harvard School of Public Health; Rivera Dommarco; Rokiah Don; Charmaine Duante; Vesselka Duleva, Head of Department; Samuel Duran Aguero, Universidad San Sebastian, Chile; Veena Ekbote, Hirabai Cowasji Jehangir Medical Research Institute, Jehangir Hospital, Pune, India; Jalila El Ati, National Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology & SURVEN RL; Asmaa El Hamdouchi; Alison Eldridge, Nestle Research Center; Tatyana El-kour, World Health Organization; Ibrahim Elmadfa, University of Vienna; Helene Enghardt Barbieri; Alireza Esteghamati, Tehran University of Medical Sciences; Zohreh Etemad, Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM); Fariza Fadzil, Ministry of Health, Malaysia; Farshad Farzadfar; Mei Fen Chan; Anne Fernandez, Perdana University, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland; Dulitha Fernando; Regina Fisberg, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil; Simon Forsyth, The University of Queensland School of Public Health; Edna Gamboa Delgado, Fundacion Cardiovascular de Colombia; Didier Garriguet, Statistics Canada; Jean-Michel Gaspoz; Dorothy Gauci; Marianne Geleijnse, Wageningen University; Brahmam Ginnela; Giuseppe Grosso, Integrated Cancer Registry of CT-ME-SR-EN; Idris Guessous, Geneva University Hospitals; Martin Gulliford, King's College London; Ingibjorg Gunnarsdottir; Wilbur Hadden; Aida Hadziomeragic, Institute of Public Health of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Christian Haerpfer; Jemal Haidar Ali, Addis Ababa University; Rubina Hakeem; Aminul Haque, University of Dhaka; Maryam Hashemian; Rajkumar Hemalatha, Director - ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition; Sigrun Henjum, Oslo and Akerhus University College; Hristo Hinkov, Director of National Center of Public Health and Analyses (NCPHA); Zaiton Hjdaud; Daniel Hoffman, Rutgers University; Beth Hopping; Anahita Houshiar-rad, National Nutrition & Food Technology Research Ins; Yao-Te Hsieh, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan; Shu-Yi Hung; Inge Huybrechts, International Agency for Research on Cancer; Nahla Chawkat Hwalla, American University of Beirut; Nayu Ikeda; Daniel Illescas-Zarate, National Institute of Public Health; Manami Inoue; Olof Jonsdottir; Hamid Jan Bin Jan Mohamed, Universiti Sains Malaysia; Chandrashekar Janakiram, Amrita School of Dentistry; Ranil Jayawardena, University of Colombo; Rajesh Jeewon, University of Mauritius; Nattinee Jitnarin; Lars Johansson; Ola Kally; Mirnalini Kandiah; Tilakavati Karupaiah, National University of Malaysia; Lital Keinan-Boker, Israel Center for Disease Control; Roya Kelishadi, Research Institute for Primordial Prevention of NCD, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences; Anuradha Khadilkar, Hirabai Cowasji Jehangir Medical Research Institute; Cho-il Kim, Korea Health Industry Development Institutee; Eda Koksal; Jurgen Konig, University of Vienna, Department of Nutritional Sciences; Liisa Korkalo, University of Helsinki; Jeremy Koster, University of Cincinnati; Irina Kovalskys, ILSI (International Life Sciences Institute), Argentina; Anand Krishnan, All India Institute of Medical Sciences; Herculina Kruger, North-West University, Potchefstroom South Africa; Rebecca Kuriyan-Raj, St. John's Research Institute; Sanghui Kweon; Carl Lachat, Ghent University, Belgium; Yuen Lai; Pulani Lanerolle, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka; Avula Laxmaiah, National Institute of Nutrition, ICMR, Hyderabad; Catherine Leclercq; Meei-Shyuan Lee; Hae-Jeung Lee, Eulji University; J Lennert Veerman, The University of Queensland; Lydia Lera Marques, Unidad de Nutricion Publica-Professor Asociado; Yanping Li, Harvard School of Public Health; Jaana Lindström; Annie Ling; Nur Indrawaty Liputo, Andalas University; Patricio Lopez-Jaramillo, FOSCAL and UDES; Amy Luke, Loyola University Chicago; Widjaja Lukito; Nuno Lunet, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Portugal; Elisabette Lupotto, Director of CREA-Alimenti e Nutrizione; Guansheng Ma; Yi Ma; Zaleha Abdullah Mahdy, National University of Malaysia (UKM); Reza Malekzadeh, Digestive Digestive Center, Digestive Disease Research Institute,Tehran University of Medical Sciences; Wan Manan, Universiti Sains Malaysia; Dirce Marchioni; Pedro Marques-Vidal, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV); Yves Martin-Prevel, Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement; Hajah Masni Ibrahim; Angie Mathee; Yasuhiro Matsumura, Bunkyo University, Faculty of Health and Nutrition; Paramita Mazumdar, Centre For Media Studies; Abla Mehio Sibai; Anjum Memon, Brighton and Sussex Medical School; Gert Mensink, Robert Koch Institute; Alexa Meyer, University of Vienna, Austria; Parvin Mirmiran, Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences;Masoud Mirzaei, Yazd Cardiovascular Research Centre, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences; Puneet Misra, All India Indtitute of Medical Sciences; Anoop Misra, Fortis CDOC Center for Excellence for Diabetes; Claudette Mitchell, University of the Southern Caribbean; Noushin Mohammadifard, Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Center, Cardiovascular Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences; Fatemeh Mohammadi-Nasrabadi, National Nutrition and Food technology Reserch Institute; Zalilah Mohd Shariff, Universiti Putra Malaysia; Foong Ming Moy, University of Malaya; Abdulrahman Musaiger, Arab Center for Nutrition; Elizabeth Mwaniki, The Technical University of Kenya; Jannicke Myhre; Balakrishna Nagalla; Androniki Naska,; Augustin Nawidimbasba Zeba, Intitut de Recherche en sciences de la Sante; Shu Wen Ng, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Le Tran Ngoan, Hanoi Medical University; Sina Noshad, Tehran University of Medical Sciences; Angelica Ochoa, Universidad de Cuenca; Marga Ocke, Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment: RIVM; Jillian Odenkirk; Kyungwon Oh, Director, Division of Health and Nutrition Survey; Mariana Oleas, Universidad Tecnica del Norte; Sonia Olivares, Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INTA), University of Chile; Philippos Orfanos; Johana Ortiz-Ulloa, Cuenca University; Johanna Otero, Fundacion Oftalmologica de Santander (FOSCAL); Marja-Leena Ovaskainen; Mohammadreza Pakseresht; Cristina Palacios, Florida International University; Pam Palmer; Wen-Harn Pan; Demosthenes Panagiotakos, Harokopio University; Rajendra Parajuli, McGill University; Myungsook Park; Gulden Pekcan; Stefka Petrova; Noppawan Piaseu, Mahidol University; Christos Pitsavos; Kalpagam Polasa, National Institute of Nutrition; Luz Posada, Universidad de Antioquia; Farhad Pourfarzi, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences; Alan Martin Preston, Univ Puerto Rico-Med Sci Dept Biochemistry; Ingrid Rached, Centro de Atencion Nutricional Antimano (CANIA); Ali Reza Rahbar; Colin Rehm; Almut Richter; Leanne Riley; Luz Maria Sánchez-Romero, National Institute of Public Health Mexico; Benoit Salanave; Nizal Sarrafzadegan, Professor- Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Center; Norie Sawada, Research Center for Cancer Prevention and Screening, National Cancer Center; Makiko Sekiyama, Graduate Program in Sustainability Science Global Leadership Initiative (GPSS-GLI), The University of Tokyo; Rusidah Selamat; Khadijah Shamsuddin, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre; Sangita Sharma, University of Alberta; Harri Sinkko; Isabelle Sioen; Ivan Sisa, USFQ; Sheila Skeaff, University of Otago; Laufey Steingrimsdottir; Tor Strand, University of Bergen; Milton Fabian Suarez-Ortegon, University of Edinburgh; Sumathi Swaminathan, St John's Research Institute; Gillian Swan; Elzbieta Sygnowska; Maria Szabo; Lucjan Szponar, National Food and Nutrition Institute; Ilse Tan-Khouw; Heli Tapanainen, The National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL); Reema Tayyem, the Hashemite University; Bemnet Tedla; Alison Tedstone; Robert Templeton; Celine Termote, Bioversity International; Anastasia Thanopoulou, Diabetes Center, 2nd Department of internal Medicine, Athens University, Greece; Holmfridur Thorgeirsdottir; Inga Thorsdottir; Dimitrios Trichopoulos; Antonia Trichopoulou; Shoichiro Tsugane; Aida Turrini; Coline van Oosterhout; Erkki Vartiainen,; Suvi Virtanen, National Institute for Health and Welfare; Peter Vollenweider; Marieke Vossenaar, CeSSIAM in Guatemala; Eva Warensjo Lemming, Risk and Benefit assessment Department, National Food Agency Sweden; Anna Waskiewicz, Department of CVD Epidemiology, Prevention and Health Promotion, Institute of Cardiology, Warsaw, Poland; Eveline Waterham; Lothar Wieler, Robert Koch Institute; Tizita Wondwossen, Addis Ababa University; Suh Wu; Roseyati Yaakub; Mabel Yap,; Safiah Yusof; Sahar Zaghloul; Gábor Zajkás; Maria Zapata, CESNI; Khairul Zarina; Fatemeh Vida Zohoori, Teesside University CONTRIBUTORS GS, RM, PW and DM conceptualized and designed the study. JO, AT, JR, MS, DPM, SK and SS were involved in the systematic searches, data collection and data standardization. JZ and PS conducted the statistical analyses to standardize the data. VM and JZ conducted the analyses for the study. VM, GS, JO and DM wrote the first draft, and VM and DM the subsequent drafts of the manuscript. All the authors interpreted the data, read the final manuscript, and approved its submission.

    • Contributors GMS, RM, PW and DM conceptualised and designed the study. JO, AT, JR, MLSM, DPM, SK and SS were involved in the systematic searches, data collection and data standardisation. JZ and PS conducted the statistical analyses to standardise the data. VM and JZ conducted the analyses for the study. VM, GMS, JO and DM wrote the first draft, and VM and DM the subsequent drafts of the manuscript. All the authors interpreted the data, read the final manuscript and approved its submission.

    • Funding This study was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (PI Mozaffarian). All authors had full access to all data sources and have responsibility for the contents of the report and the decision to submit for publication. We thank Siyi Shangguan, Mengyuan Ruan and Kurtis Morrish for assistance with data searches, extraction and harmonization.

    • Disclaimer The funder contributed to study design during the grant application process and had no role in data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the report.

    • Map disclaimer The depiction of boundaries on this map does not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of BMJ (or any member of its group) concerning the legal status of any country, territory, jurisdiction or area or of its authorities. This map is provided without any warranty of any kind, either express or implied.

    • Competing interests VM reports a grant from the American Heart Association, outside the submitted work. PW reports research grants and contracts from the US Agency for International Development and UNICEF and personal fees from the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition, outside the submitted work. RM reports grants from National Institute of Health, Nestle, Danone, personal fees from Bunge, Development Initiatives, outside the submitted work. DM reports research funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; personal fees from GOED, Bunge, Indigo Agriculture, Motif FoodWorks, Amarin, Acasti Pharma, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, America’s Test Kitchen and Danone; scientific advisory board member for Brightseed, Day Two, Elysium Health, Filtricine, HumanCo and Tiny Organics; and chapter royalties from UpToDate, all outside the submitted work.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data availability statement Data are available in a public, open access repository. To maximise its benefits as a public resource, the GDD 2017 is now available for free public download at http://www.globaldietarydatabase.org. Survey-level information and original data download weblinks are provided for all public surveys; and survey-level microdata or stratum-level aggregate data, as available, are provided for direct download for all non-public (CM) surveys granted consent for public sharing by the data owners.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.