The National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) provides the only source of nationally representative data on the diet and nutritional status of the UK population. The survey is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and is carried out jointly by the MRC Epidemiology Unit (led and delivered through the Nutrition Measurement Platform) and National Centre for Social Research (NatCen).
The survey is designed to assess the diet, nutrient intake and nutritional status of the UK population in order to provide government with the evidence base for policy development such as the sugar reduction guidelines and to track progress towards public health nutrition objectives such as reducing intakes of calories, saturated fat and salt and increasing intakes of fibre.
The NDNS programme began in 1992 as a series of separate cross-sectional surveys focused on a different age group, e.g. preschool children (1.5 to 4.5 years) or adults aged 65 years and over. Since 2008 the NDNS has run as a continuous, cross-sectional survey of the general population aged 18 months and over living in private households in the UK. See the NDNS Data Resource Profile (International Journal of Epidemiology). This has enabled more rapid data collection and greater ability to track temporal changes and to respond more quickly to changing policy needs. The programme is currently in its fourth funding phase: 2024 – 2029, fieldwork years 16-20.
From 2008 to 2023, a representative sample of around 1000 people (500 adults and 500 children) sampled from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, took part each year. For the next phase of the survey the number of participants recruited for NDNS has increased to 4,000 per year, and includes for the first time children aged 12 to 17 months and pregnant and breastfeeding women. Taking part comprises an online interview, collection of information about food and drink consumption via Intake24 for up to 4 days, and collection of blood and urine samples for nutritional bioanalysis.
The wider NDNS surveillance programme also includes assessment and monitoring of population salt intakes through adjunct Urinary Sodium Surveys performed periodically for individual UK countries (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland).
NDNS reports and results are published by government, generally via gov.uk and after results publication, NDNS data are deposited at the UK Data Service. Other resources (including blood and urine samples) can be requested from the NDNS Bioresource.
