Table 1.
Comparison of features offered by the different dietary assessment toolkits
| Toolkit | Dietary Assessment Primer | Diet, Anthropometry and Physical Activity (DAPA) Measurement Toolkit | Nutritools website, www.nutritools.org | ACAORN method selector | Danone Dietary Assessment Toolkit (DanoneDAT) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Developers | US National Cancer Institute (NCI) | Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge | University of Leeds with the DIETary Assessment Tool NETwork (DIET@NET) partnership* | Australasian Child and Adolescent Obesity Research Network (ACAORN) | Danone Nutricia Research |
| Date of development | 2015 | 2016–2017 | 2017 | 2009 | 2015 |
| Country where developed | USA | UK | UK | Australia | France |
| Description of toolkit | Dietary assessment guide for any study in which estimates of group intakes are required | Inventory of methods for dietary assessment, physical activity assessment, and anthropometry | Supporting dietary assessment through guidance and access to validated dietary assessment tools | Dietary assessment method selection guide for dietary assessment in infants, toddlers, children and adolescents | General guidelines on the collection and analysis of dietary data in research studies |
| Target audience | Researchers interested in measuring dietary intake | ||||
| Type of study | Clinical and epidemiological (cross-sectional, longitudinal) | ||||
| Appropriate to design studies in following populations | |||||
| Adults (18–65 years) | Y | Y | Y | N | Y |
| Elderly (65+ years) | Y | Y | Y | N | Y |
| Children and adolescents (4–18 years) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Infants and toddlers (6 months–4 years) | Y | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Pregnant women | Y | Y | Y | N | N |
| Healthy | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Non-healthy | Y | Y | Y | Y | Use with caution |
| Overweight and obese | Y | Y | Y | Y | Use with caution |
| Other, specify | – | According to ethnic group | – | – | – |
| Methods covered | |||||
| FFQ | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| 24 h recall, including repeated | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Food diary, weighed | Y | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Food diary, estimated | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Diet history | Y | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Diet checklist | N | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Direct observation | Y | Y | N | Y | N |
| Dietary screener questionnaires | Y | N | N | N | N |
| Nutritional biomarkers | N | Y | N | Y | N |
| Technology-assisted dietary assessment | N | Y | N | N | N |
| Features | |||||
| Explanation of methods | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Strengths and weaknesses of methods | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Decision matrix or method selection guide | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Best practice guidelines | Y | Y | Y | N | Y |
| Example tools to use | N | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Publications | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Questionnaire creator | N | N | Y | N | N |
| Data analysis component | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Misreporting component | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Physical activity component | N | Y | N | Y | N |
| Anthropometry component | N | Y | N | N | N |
| Validation of dietary assessment tools | Y | N | Y | N | N |
| Instrument library | N | Y | Y | N | N |
| Availability, website | https://dietassessmentprimer.cancer.gov/ | http://www.measurement-toolkit.org/ | http://www.nutritools.org | http://anzos.com/acaorn/food-and-nutrition/ | https://devhyp.nutriomique.org/tools/ |
| Cost for use | None | ||||
| Contact | Amy F. Subar (subara@mail.nih gov) | toolkit@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk | Janet Cade (J.E.Cade@leeds.ac.uk) | Tracy Burrows (tracy.burrows@newcastle.edu.au) | Bridget A. Holmes (bridget.holmes@danone.com) |
| References/publications | ( 33 ) | ( 35 , 36 , 37 , 40 , 45 ) | ( 29 ) | ||
Y, yes; N, no.
*
University of Leeds; Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich; Coventry University/Imperial College London; MRC Human Nutrition Research (HNR), Cambridge; MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, Southampton; University of Bristol; University of Oxford; and University of Southampton.