Monitoring the nutritional status of the UK population.

The infinitive 'to monitor' is derived from the Latin mane: to warn. Government needs to be warned about nutritional status because a food and welfare policy which ensures the health and well-being of a nation must be based on sound nutritional and economic evidence. There is no single measurement upon which an assessment of nutritional status can be based and therefore information must be gathered from a number of sources. In addition, the collection of information must be a continuous process since the effects of nutrition in terms of the national health may be both short and long-term. A distinction must also be made between indicators of nutritional status for population groups either in terms of food supplies or of health, and direct assessment of nutritional status of individuals by surveys and other special studies. Indicators of nutritional status The socalled 'running indices' of nutrition are collected routinely by different Government departments and provide information about either food supplies or different aspects of health. Food supply statistics. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food publishes annually (a) Food Consumption Level Estimates of the total amount of food available at the dock side and farm gate, and (b) the National Fooci Survey figures which show, for a sample of some 7500 households each year, the amounts and cost of food purchased over a period of one week for domestic consumption. The Family Expenditure Survey carried out by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys includes money spent on food/head of the population per week. Health statistics. Birth statistics (perinatal mortality, stillbirth and low birth weight) and mortality statistics, are supplied by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys. Although they depend on many factors other than nutrition, nevertheless, they are useful because they reveal the circumstances of those groups which can be considered as 'at risk'. Information about self-reported illness, either chronic or short-term, is obtained from the General Household Survey of the Ofiice of Population Censuses and Surveys. Morbidity statistics from the Hospital In-Patient Enquiry monitor diseases of under and over-nutrition seen in hospitals. Measurements of height and weight of schoolchildren are still made routinely at school entry and school leaving and are analysed centrally by the Scottish Home and Health Department but not in England and Wales. Area Directors of the Blood Transfusion Service make monthly returns to us of the number of new female