Pediatric Nutrition in Practice

Dietary Assessment in Children 323

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A great deal of careful planning needs to take
place before embarking on this type of research
project, and it makes sense to obtain expert ad-
vice at this critical stage. Poor decisions made
during planning can easily lead to research being
undertaken that can never achieve the intended
goals because of an inadequate design.

D i e t a r y M e t h o d s

Some suitable dietary methods [3] are explained
below, and their requirements and efficacy are
listed in table 1.

Diet Records/Diaries

The child/parent is asked to keep a record of all
the foods and drinks consumed by the child over
a period of time [3] , typically between 3 and 7

days. Recordings tend to become less accurate if

too many consecutive days are requested as fa-

tigue tends to set in. Food can be weighed if suit-

able scales are provided or recorded in household

measures. Some instruction from staff regarding

the best way to achieve the recording is desirable

but not always possible, in which case written in-

structions are important. Now that digital pho-

tography is accessible to most people via mobile

telephones, a helpful adjunct to recording foods is

to photograph them at the mealtime. The written

description is still important, as foods are not al-

ways completely recognisable in photographs,

but this will certainly help the subject to record

exactly what was eaten. It is also important to re-

cord any food left on the plate uneaten.

When the diet records (and photographs) are

received, they should be assessed by staff and the

subject contacted to talk through the record and

to clarify any parts that are not explicit. This can

be done face to face or by telephone [4].

Ta b l e 1. Main methods for the assessment of diet in groups of children [1], listing the requirements, efficacy, and ap-
proximate time needed for each method

Diet record 24-hour recall FFQ

Requirements for data collection
Literacy Essential Not essential Not essential
Memory Recorded at time Essential Essential
Estimation of frequency No No Yes
Estimation of portion size Recorded at time Recalled Standard portion or minimal
description
Photo of meal Possible No No
Time for child/parent 20 min × 3 days minimum 45 min × 3 days minimum 10 – 20 min total
Time for staff 5 – 10 min to explain method;
10 min per day to check foods

45 min × 3 days minimum;

checks during interview

Missing answers could be checked;
10 min with occasional subjects
Scannable data No No Yes

Obtaining nutrient data
Time for staff 30 min × 3 days minimum
per subject; all nutrients
included

30 min × 3 days minimum

per subject; all nutrients

included

45 min per nutrient; covers all

subjects

Comprehensive
nutrient database

Yes Yes Only nutrients in representative
foods needed
Individual foods Yes Yes No
Foods eaten daily Very good Very good Not very good
Foods eaten 1 – 2 times/week Not very good Not very good Fairly good
Energy estimation Very good Very good Reasonable
Nutrient estimations Very good Very good Reasonable

Koletzko B, et al. (eds): Pediatric Nutrition in Practice. World Rev Nutr Diet. Basel, Karger, 2015, vol 113, pp 322–325
DOI: 10.1159/000367864