Food balance sheet and household budget survey dietary data and mortality patterns in Europe.

Abstract

Worldwide dietary data for nutrition monitoring and surveillance are commonly derived from food balance sheets (FBS) and household budgetsurveys (HBS).We have compared food supply from FBS and food availability data from HBS among eighteen European countries and have estimatedthe extent to which they correlate, focusing on food groups which are comparably captured by FBS and HBS and for which there is epidemiological evidencethat they can have a noticeable impact on population mortality. Spearman's correlation coefficient wasþ0·78 (P,1023) for vegetables (includinglegumes), þ 0·76 (P,1023) for fruits,þ0·69 (P,1023) for fish and seafood andþ0·93 (P,1023) for olive oil.With respect to meat andmeat products,the coefficient was lower at þ0·39 (P¼0·08). Moreover, we have examined whether the supply (FBS) or the availability (HBS) of food groups knownor presumed to have beneficial effect on the occurrence of CHD and total cancer can predict overall, coronary and cancer mortality in ecologicalanalyses. After controlling for purchasing power parity-adjusted gross domestic product and tobacco smoking we found that for vegetables, fruits, fishand seafood, as well as for olive oil, both the FBS and the HBS estimates were inversely associated with all three indicators of mortality, althoughthe number of countries with complete information on all study variables hindered formal statistical documentation (P.0·05 in some instances).FBS and HBS have their own strengths and weaknesses, but they may complement each other in dietary assessments at the population level.