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Chapter 9

Biomarkers of Diet and Nutritional Health

Tracy E. Crane and Cynthia A. Thomson


Introduction


Assessment of the relationship between nutritional intake and health is dependent


on the accuracy by which dietary intake can be measured. Nutritional biomarkers


are necessary to provide the evidence base for clinical guidance and effective diet,


as well as health programming and policies (Combs et al. 2013 ). Currently, diet is


measured using subjective self-report instruments as well as objective biomarkers


of nutritional status and/or dietary exposure. Many of the observational studies that


evaluate the relationship between diet and disease has relied heavily on


self-reported dietary data from large cohorts, both nationally and internationally.


While these association studies provide the hypothesis-generating research neces-


sary to move thefield forward, a lack of precision has hindered thefield of


nutritional science, undermining our ability to accurately test hypotheses.


Randomized controlled trials with afixed dietary exposure or intervention have


been conducted on a smaller scale in an effort to prospectively test hypotheses


related to a specific dietary exposure and an intermediary biomarker of disease risk.


These trials are limited in number, and many rely on self-reported diet adherence


measures and do not follow the study sample through disease endpoints due to the


inherent costs associated with complex measures and/or long-term follow-up. This


chapter will summarize the current state of the methodology regarding self-reported


dietary instruments, discuss the role of dietary biomarkers in advancing our


understanding of health risks, and provide guidance as to where thefield is going in


an effort to improve our accuracy in assessing health in relation to dietary intake.


T.E. CraneC.A. Thomson (&)
College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
e-mail: [email protected]


T.E. Crane
e-mail: [email protected]


©Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
L.L. Sievert and D.E. Brown (eds.),Biological Measures of Human
Experience across the Lifespan: Making Visible the Invisible,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-44103-0_9


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