European Journal of Clinical Nutrition – November 2009

Eur J Clin Nutr (2009) Nov;63 Suppl 4:S1-S274 (special issue, 14 papers)
Guest Editors: N. Slimani and B. Margetts
Nutrient Intakes and Patterns in the EPIC cohorts from ten European countries (SNIPE)

This report, entitled “Nutrient intakes and patterns in the EPIC cohorts from 10 European countries”, follows a previous special issue (Public Health Nutrition Vol. 5, 6B, 2002) on food consumption of a representative sub-sample of subjects from 10 European countries participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. For this report, 37 000 single 24-hour dietary recalls were collected in a standardised manner using the same dietary software (EPIC-SOFT®, IARC) and a harmonised nutrient database (ENDB) containing 26 nutrients (including energy). The 14 papers in this special issue describe intake of energy and macro-nutrients, minerals, fat- and water- soluble vitamins, and food supplements. Consumption of highly processed foods, glycaemic load and glycaemic index, specific food group combinations explaining nutrient intakes, and insights on under-reporting are also covered.
These results provide the first reliable comparisons of both food and nutrient intakes and patterns across European countries, based on a detailed and carefully standardised dietary methodology, and are thus a valuable resource and common benchmark for Europe. This information is particularly useful for understanding and better interpreting dietary exposure and its association with disease (including cancer), and for formulating new etiological hypotheses.Link to EJCN website