National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) Report for Northern Ireland

Summary

The National Diet and Nutrition Survey Rolling Programme (NDNS RP) is a continuous cross-sectional survey, designed to assess the diet, nutrient intake and nutritional status of the general population aged 1.5 years and over living in private households in the UK. Boosted samples were gathered in Years 1-4 (2008/09-2011/12) and Years 6-9 (2013/14-2016/17)  in order to achieve representative data for Northern Ireland and enable comparisons to be made with UK results.

Key findings

• Consumption of 5 A Day fruit and vegetable portions was below the recommendation in all age/sex groups
• Average consumption of oily fish was equivalent to 7-15g per week in children and 30-60g per week in adults, well below the recommended 1 portion (140g) per week.
• Average daily consumption of red and processed meat for men aged 19 to 64 years exceeded the current maximum recommendation for adults by 19g
• For all age/sex groups, average intakes of saturated fatty acids exceeded the current recommendation of no more than 11% of food energy providing 12.7-13.3% of food energy for children aged 4 years upwards and 13.3-14.0% for adults
• Intakes of free sugars exceeded the recommendation of no more than 5% of total energy from free sugars in all age/sex groups
• For AOAC fibre, average intakes were 9.9g for children aged 1.5 to 3 years, 12.9g for those aged 4 to 10 years and 14.6g for children aged 11 to 18 years. Intakes of AOAC fibre were 17.3-17.6g for adults. Overall, 94-98% of the population were not meeting the recommendations. 
• Average intakes of vitamin D were well below the recommended 10µg/day in all age/sex groups.