There is growing concern that the increasing challenges faced by NHANES are impairing the utility and reliability of the data provided by this survey. NHANES data are a critical component of the nation’s health infrastructure and serve as an important resource for health professionals, policy makers, researchers, the food and supplement industry, commodity groups, and public health departments.

While NHANES staff have worked diligently and hard to carry out the survey with commendable results, factors such as decreasing response rates, small sample size, increasing costs, and the lack of funds for innovation and the study of new methodologies have placed NHANES in a precarious position. Further, the current need for timely granular and sub-group specific data to address disparities greatly increases the pressure on NHANES. This webinar will outline the nature of the challenges now experienced by NHANES and then focus on considerations for solutions including a stepwise approach to revitalizing the survey. The webinar is intended to help inform the ASN interest in supporting activities important to the nutrition, food, and health community. This webinar will not focus on the specifics of the upcoming 2024 NHANES survey for which the NHANES staff anticipate offering a webinar to update ASN members in late 2022.

This activity was organized by the ASN Committee on Advocacy and Science Policy.

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Speakers

Naman Ahluwalia, PhD
Nutrition Monitoring Advisor
NHANES, NCHS, CDC

Paul Coates, PhD
Past President
American Society for Nutrition

Johanna Dwyer, DSc, RD
Professor
Tufts University School of Medicine and Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University

Jaime Gahche, PhD, MPH
Nutritional Epidemiologist
NIH ODS

Shiriki Kumanyika, PhD, MPH
Research Professor in Community Health & Prevention
Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health

Charles Rothwell, MS; MBA
Retired
Former Director - National Center for Health Statistics, CDC

Christine Taylor, PhD
ASN Committee on Advocacy and Science Policy (CASP) Chair

Catherine Woteki, PhD
Professor, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa State University; Chair, American Society for Nutrition Foundation Board of Trustees

Learning Objectives

• Describe the widespread application of NHANES
• Identify at least three factors that potentially impact the ability of NHANES to meet users’ needs
• Recognize the complicated nature of solutions for overcoming the current challenges faced by NHANES