Methods for dietary assessment in children 6-11 year olds

Authors: FOSTER, EMMA - Consultant; BEKELMAN, TRACI - University Of Colorado; BARANOWSKI, TOM - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC); PERNG, WEI - Colorado School Of Public Health

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/21/2021
Publication Date: 1/31/2022
Citation: Foster, E., Bekelman, T., Baranowski, T., Perng, W. 2022. Methods for dietary assessment in children 6-11 year olds. In Callahan, E.A., editors. Approaches to Assessing Intake of Food and Dietary Supplements in Pregnant Women and Children 2 to 11 Years of Age: Proceedings of a Workshop Series. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. p. 47-70. https://doi.org/10.17226/26374.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/26374

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: In light of the multiple challenges inherent to measuring children's dietary intakes, researchers are urged to acknowledge those limitations, adopt realistic expectations of the accuracy that can be achieved when working with children in this age group, and account for the challenges and limitations of the assessment method used when interpreting findings. Ideal dietary assessment tools will maximize accuracy, minimize burden to participants (including parents, children, school staff, and researchers), and overcome or at least address the challenges unique to school-age children. Technology-based measures bring many advantages but also new potential sources of misreporting and burden. Therefore, continued efforts to improve accuracy of both remote food photography methods and the Automated Self-Administered 24-Hour (ASA24) Dietary Assessment tool are justified based on these methods' high acceptability according to their users. Objective passive methods to assess dietary intake are relatively emergent and preliminary, although they hold considerable potential to mitigate or overcome some limitations of traditional methods. It is unclear whether the groups willing to use such methods are representative of broader populations, but additional funding and technical development would help improve the quality and feasibility of these methods. The ideal instrument for dietary assessment is based on a balance of quality (determined by accuracy, reliability, and validity) and feasibility (determined by participant characteristics, burden, and cost). The best balance between quality and feasibility is the 24-hour recall, while the instrument with the highest feasibility, particularly for large studies, is the food frequency questionnaire. Strategic analytical approaches can further mitigate error and bias associated with these and other dietary assessment instruments when they are used to examine children's dietary patterns and intake of specific nutrients and foods. This is the rapporteur's summary of the main points made by individual speakers (noted in parentheses). These statements have not been endorsed or verified by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. They are not intended to reflect a consensus among workshop participants.