Estimation of age- and gender-specific food availability from household budget survey data.

OBJECTIVE To derive estimates of age-gender specific food availability, based on data collected at household level. DESIGN Two alternative modelling approaches are described leading to linear and non-linear optimisation, respectively. The idea of penalised least squares is used for estimation of model parameters. The effect of household characteristics can be incorporated into both modelling approaches. SETTING Household budget survey data from four European countries (Belgium, Greece, Norway and the United Kingdom), circa 1990.