In 1988 SENECA (Survey in Europe on Nutrition and the Elderly, a Concerted Action) was initiated to study cross cultural differences in nutritional issues and life style factors affecting health and performance of elderly Europeans. Nine of the original 19 participating towns in 12 European countries decided to conduct a longitudinal study. This supplement presents the findings of the second data collection period and the first longitudinal analyses of these nine towns. In addition, cross-sectional results are discussed for two towns from which few baseline data were collected, and for two towns which were only involved in the 1993 survey: one from the United Kingdom and one from the United States. Ethical permission for the studies was obtained from local ethical committees.