Objective: The current paper aims to present the main results of the Italian National Food Consumption Survey INRAN-SCAI 2005-06. Design: A cross-sectional study was performed. Households were randomly selected after geographical stratification of the national territory. Food consumption was assessed on three consecutive days through individual estimated dietary records. Setting: Italy. Subjects: The final study sample comprised 3323 subjects (1501 males and 1822 females) aged 0?1 to 97?7 years belonging to 1329 households: fifty-two infants (0-2?9 years), 193 children (3-9?9 years), 247 teenagers (10-17?9 years), 2313 adults (18-64?9 years) and 518 elderly (65 years and above). Results: Participation rate was 33 %. The mean ratio of estimated energy intake to estimated BMR was 1?41 in adults. Indicators of mean and high individual consumption are presented for fifteen large categories and fifty-one subcategories of foods and beverages, in the total population and in consumers, by age and sex categories. The overall consumption of fruit and vegetables was 418 g/d. The consumption of red meat was approximately 700 g/week, expressed as raw weight. Some specific aspects of the Italian food consumption pattern were confirmed: a large contribution from bread, pasta and pizza to cereals, from olive oil to fats and from wine to alcoholic beverages. Conclusions: The database obtained from the survey will be the key reference for Italian food consumption during the coming years and will be utilized for a variety of purposes including the assessment of nutrient intakes and risk analysis.

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Objective: To build up sufficient knowledge of a 'healthy diet'. Here, we report on the assessment of nutritional knowledge using a uniform method in a large sample of adolescents across Europe. Design: A cross-sectional study.

This work aims at giving an updated picture of the strict interaction between main plant biologically active compounds and botanicals. The main features of the emerging class of dietary supplements, the botanicals, are highlighted. Focus is also on the definition of actual possibilities of study approach and research strategies. Examples of innovative directions are given: assessment of interaction of bioactive compounds, chemometrics and the new goal of biorefineries. Current models of existing databases, such as plant metabolic pathways, food composition, bioactive compounds, dietary supplements, and dietary markers, are described as usable tools for health research. The need for categorization of botanicals as well as for the implementation of specific and dedicated databases emerged, based on both analytical data and collected data taken from literature throughout a harmonized and standardized approach for the evaluation of an adequate dietary intake.

These data might be used to develop specific strategies for Italy in order to increase the intake of dietary fibre and to decrease that of total fats and of sugars in the population.