The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Nutrition Evidence Systematic Review (NESR) team has collaborated with multiple expert groups to conduct systematic reviews assessing the relationship between consumption of dietary patterns and a wide variety of health outcomes. However, these previous NESR systematic reviews have not included a meta-analysis. Before developing methods for conducting systematic reviews with meta-analysis of dietary patterns studies, this evidence scan was conducted to examine the following question: What methods have been used to meta-analyze studies examining the relationship between dietary patterns and health outcomes?
