Dietary Assessment Methodology for Nutritional Assessment

Assessment of dietary intake is challenging, and all current methodologies come with their individual strengths and weaknesses. Innovative technologies to improve dietary assessment methods are emerging and seem promising. Conventional methods include food records (prospective) or recalls/diet history/food frequency questionnaires (retrospective). The appropriate method to use depends primarily on the main objective of the study, the level of detail required, and the resources available. Understanding, acknowledging, and minimizing potential errors of self-reported data are important. Some practical aspects of dietary assessment methodology are reviewed in relation to study design, data collection, coding, calculation, and interpretation of the data.