Research on Dietary Intake Exposures and Health Outcomes over Time

Cross-sectional data sets, such as derived from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES), are readily available at no cost over the web, and analyses of such data sets can help suggest potential associations between dietary intake exposures and health outcomes. However, because cross-sectional surveys collect exposure and outcome data at the very same point in time, they cannot help us understand if exposures through routine consumption of a certain food or substance precede diagnosis of a chronic adverse health condition. Longitudinal data – collected from participants in prospective cohort studies conducted over several years – help to reveal relationships between exposures through usual dietary intake and development of chronic conditions over time. The Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN)/FDA/Division of Public Health Informatics and Analytics (DPHIA)/Epidemiology Branch is interested in obtaining such longitudinal data from the ongoing Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) longitudinal studies: Nurses’ Health Study original cohort (NHS: ~122,000 participants, since 1976) Nurses’ Health Study II (NHSII: ~116,000 participants, began in 1989) Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS: ~100,000 men, since 1986) Growing Up Today Study (GUTS: children of NHS participants, including 16,882 girls and boys; since 1996) Growing Up Today Study 2 (GUTS2: children of NHSII participants, including 10,923 girls and boys; since 2004) Analyses of data from these studies will help enhance understanding of how exposures through dietary intake may affect chronic health conditions of consumers by subgroups. The information will help the FDA improve dietary policy and consumer education to protect and promote public health.