The British National Food Survey as a major epidemiological resource.

Abstract

In much of the work relating patterns of morbidity and mortality to diet the principal source of information about eating habits within Britain has been the National Food Survey conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food. Misunder? standings remain, however, about what this survey can and cannot show, and its use in epidemiological studies has some? times been criticised. We therefore describe the survey, out? lining its strengths and weaknesses for this purpose.