The Danish National Survey on Diet and Physical Activity

Diet and physical activity influence the incidence of widespread diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. In order to launch focused prevention initiatives and monitor developments in the population’s health-related lifestyle we need to systematically gather knowledge about and map population dietary and activity habits.
The National Food Institute is behind the Danish National Survey of Diet and Physical Activity. The Institute conducted national dietary surveys in 1985, 1995, 2000-2008 and 2011-2013. The survey has included physical activity in the two latest surveys, which is treated in a dietary context as well as an independent research field.
The survey is representative, multidisciplinary and maps the diet, physical activity and overweight of the Danish population as well as their determinants. It is a tool for assessing population nutrient intake as well as the degree to which official health policy objectives are met. It thus contributes with knowledge about the four key lifestyle factors: Diet, smoking, alcohol and physical activity in the Danish population.
The survey results have been published in several reports and in a wide range of journals and articles.
The National Food Institute uses the results for consulting and research within nutrition, for example about enrichment of foods, assessment of new ingredients, in relation to dietary recommendations and to target nutritional information at the general population. Data from the dietary studies also constitute an important element in risk assessments.
The National Food Institute cooperate with a wide range of Danish and international stakeholders on improving methodologies and conducting other dietary surveys.
The National Food Institute also collects supplementary dietary data for describing developments – for example through statistics data on the provision of foods.