Mapping the dietary habits of Danes

To gain an insight into the dietary habits of Danes, the National Food Institute has conducted the Danish National Survey of Diet and Physical Activity, DANSDA, among children and adults since 1985. Since 2000, the Institute has also collected data on Danes’ physical activity and weight. Until now, data from 18,000 Danish children and adults are included in the surveys.

Representative survey

DANSDA is a national, representative, cross-sectional survey based on a simple, random sample of children and adults collected from the Danish Civil Registration System.

In addition to registering their dietary habits and physical activity, the participants are also asked in two personal background interviews about their:

• social background
• eating habits
• physical activity
• consumption of dietary supplements.

The survey period covers the whole calendar year. For each participant, data on eating habits and physical activity are collected every day for a week. As the total collection of data covers a long period of time, it is possible to analyse trends over time.

DANSDA is used in a wide range of tasks, including advisory tasks and research, both nationally and internationally, and in teaching.

Do the Danes comply with the official food-based dietary guide- lines and nutritional recommendations? What is the effect of health-promoting initiatives? And to what extent are Danes exposed to a particular risk through their diet, e.g. from unwanted substances such as pesticides or acrylamide? These are some of the questions, which DANSDA helps to answer.

Reports on results from DANSDA

Results from DANSDA are published in reports that contain numerous tables of different age groups’ intake of various food groups as well as macronutrients, vitamins and minerals. The reports can be downloaded from the National Food Institute's website.

Read more about the dietary habbits of Danes on the special topic portal on nutrition and dietary habits.