Table 4.

Instruments to assess the theoretical amount of micronutrients received from different dietary sources and intervention programs

Instrument	Focus of data collection	Strengths	Limitations	Example references	Notes on use for examining excessive intakes
24‐h dietary recall	Total food and nutrient intakes on specific days	Captures total dietary intake from all food sources	Time and technical capacity required for collection and analysis of data	74, 108	Must collect multiple days of data and analyze data appropriately to estimate usual intake distributions. Can be combined with a module for supplements and exposure to other programs
Observed weighed diet records	Total food and nutrient intakes on specific days	Same as above, but likely more accurate	Same as above; more time‐consuming data collection		Same as above
Whole diet FFQ (semiquantitative)	Total food and nutrient intakes during specified recall period	Captures usual total nutrient intake, if appropriately designed and calibrated	Formative research needed to define food list and portion sizes		Can be combined with a module for supplements and exposure to other programs
Whole diet FFQ (qualitative)	Patterns of food or nutrient consumption	Captures usual patterns of intake	Does not produce estimates of total intake		Same as above
Micronutrient‐specific or food‐specific FFQ (qualitative or quantitative)	Consumption of specific food or nutrient during specified recall period for selected nutrients consumed in just a few foods	Quick to administer	Does not capture total diet. Formative research needed to define food list	109	Same as above
Fortification Assessment Coverage Tool (FACT)	Consumption of fortified or fortifiable foods; proxy indicators of micronutrient deficiency risk	Relatively quick to administer	Does not capture total diet	100, 105	Same as above
Fortification Rapid Assessment Tool	Consumption of fortifiable foods	Same as above	Same as above	110	Same as above
Household Consumption and Expenditures Surveys	Household apparent consumption of foods	Large sample size and routine collection	Does not provide information on individual food intake; purchased prepared foods often not adequately captured	80, 81, 111	Consider modifications to better capture individual household members’ exposure to intervention programs
Demographic and Health Surveys/Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys modules	Monitor population health, health services access, and related indicators	Same as above; includes individual exposure to some programs: vitamin A supplements and iron‐folic acid tablets	Very limited data on dietary intake		Consider including indicators related to the coverage of country‐specific programs, including fortification
FAO Food Balance Sheets	Assess availability of food commodities at the national level	Data available annually for most countries	Measures availability rather than consumption; no information on subnational patterns	112, 113	Not appropriate for assessing excessive intake
Dietary diversity score	Brief questionnaire on food groups consumed by household or individual	Rapid; easy to administer; validated against 24‐h recalls as predictor of micronutrient intake adequacy	Does not provide descriptive information on types of foods consumed, or quantitative estimates of intake	114	Provides information on likely adequacy of population micronutrient intake from foods, but not appropriate for assessing excessive intake
Post‐Event Coverage Survey (PECS)	Receipt of high‐dose vitamin A supplement	Rapid; easy to administer	Does not provide information on other interventions, risk factors for deficiency, or dietary intake	115, 116	Consider including indicators related to the coverage of country‐specific programs, including fortification
Fortification Monitoring and Surveillance (FORTIMAS)	Monitoring and surveillance of fortification programs	Relatively low‐resource approach for tracking progress of fortification programs	Data collection focused only on fortification; data not representative	117	Interpret in combination with measures of dietary intake and program exposure