Four questions can be asked on the use of international data sets for assessing diets to improve health: Is it worth while to compare dietary surveys done in different times and places? If the answer is yes, can we compare them with techniques that already exist? This requires that we must examine the general context of dietary studies. Next we ask, what problems are likely to arise? This leads to specifying minimum criteria for worthwhile comparisons. Finally, what are the next steps to overcome problems? Meta-analytic techniques are effective for analysing prior surveys. More sophisticated methods for designing and organizing new studies will permit better comparisons in the future.
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