Raw data from ANSES's INCA 3 study now available
ANSES is providing all the data from its third national study on the food consumption and dietary habits of the French population – INCA 3, published in 2017 – as Open Data. They can be consulted on the official website "data.gouv.fr". These data provide information on the consumption of food, beverages and food supplements, as well as on the nutritional intake of populations from birth to 79 years of age, in metropolitan France. They also cover food preparation and storage habits, physical activity and inactivity, and anthropometric data.
ANSES's INCA studies provide a snapshot of the food consumption habits of the population of metropolitan France at a given moment in time. These data can be used to estimate intakes of nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids, as well as exposure to potentially harmful substances likely to be found in foodstuffs, such as heavy metals, pesticide residues and toxins. Alongside ANSES's databases on food composition and contamination, these INCA studies are essential tools for health risk assessment.
The INCA 3 study, conducted over the years 2014 & 2015, incorporated many new features and improvements as part of a harmonised European procedure. In particular, it includes children under three years of age, a study of the consumption of organic foods and home-grown produce, as well as a more sophisticated food description system, which will help refine estimates of nutritional intake and risk assessments on various topics (migration from packaging materials, consumption of raw foods, etc.).
To promote transparency and information sharing, ANSES is now publishing all these data, which are essential to the work of the various research bodies and institutes in the area of food.
The INCA 3 study in a few figures
- Six years of work
- More than 5,800 people interviewed
- 12,210 days of consumption collected, corresponding to 256,300 foods consumed
- 150 questions asked about dietary habits and lifestyles