Collection

National Diet and Nutrition Survey

The National Diet and Nutrition Survey assesses the diet, nutrient intake and nutritional status of the general population of the UK.

Responsibility for the National Diet and Nutrition Survey moved from Public Health England to the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) on 1 October 2021.

The National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) rolling programme is a continuous, cross-sectional survey. It is designed to collect detailed, quantitative information on the food consumption, nutrient intake and nutritional status of the general population living in private households in the UK. Fieldwork began in 2008 and has now completed its 15th year.

OHID and the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) jointly fund the UK NDNS. Under the contract for years 11 to 15, Northern Ireland government bodies have funded additional recruitment to allow separate reporting of results for Northern Ireland.

The contract for years 11 to 15 (2018 to 2023) is delivered by NatCen Social Research, working with the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge.

A contract to deliver years 16 to 20 of the rolling programme (2024 to 2029) has been awarded to NatCen Social Research working with the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge. This will include a urinary sodium survey of adults in England in 2025.

NDNS provides essential evidence on the diet and nutrition of the UK population to enable OHID to identify and address nutritional issues in the population, and monitor progress towards public health nutrition objectives.

Current NDNS results

The most recent results are available below.

Methods reports

Previous NDNS results

Archive of NDNS reports

Earlier and archived NDNS reports are also still available.

See below for the previous, years 1, 2 and 3 rolling programme reports published by the then Department of Health.

See the UK Government Archives for the year 1 rolling programme report and pre-rolling programme reports published by the FSA.

Published 9 September 2016
Last updated 6 November 2023 + show all updates
  1. Updated to reflect the latest information on the NDNS rolling programme and added the 'Evaluation of change in dietary methodology in NDNS rolling programme: stage 2' report to collection.

  2. Added 'Evaluation of change in dietary methodology in NDNS rolling programme: Stage 1'.

  3. Added National Diet and Nutrition Survey: assessment of salt intake from urinary sodium in adults in England, 2018 to 2019.

  4. Added 'NDNS: time trend and income analyses for Years 1 to 9'.

  5. Added 'NDNS: results from years 7 and 8 (combined)'.

  6. First published.