The British National Diet and Nutrition Survey of people aged 65 years or over: protocol and feasibility study.

The present paper reports the protocol and some outcomes of a feasibility study of the British National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) of people aged 65 years or over. The feasibility study was carried out in February and March 1994 in order to develop and test all components of the protocol for the main survey. The fieldwork for the main survey takes place over 12 months and began in October 1994. The NDNS of people aged 65 years or over is one component of a survey programme which has been established by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) and the Department of Health. It follows the successful completion and evaluation of a study of the diet and nutritional status of British adults (aged 16-64 years) in 1986-7 (Gregory et aE. 1990). The core NDNS programme is split into four separate cross-sectional surveys, conducted at approximately two-yearly intervals. It is intended that each survey will examine a nationally-representative sample drawn from one of four different population agegroups: children aged 1.5-4.5 years, schoolchildren aged 4-18 years, adults aged 16-64 years, adults aged 65 years or over.