Table 2.

Suggested metadata and weights^a

Evidence type	Geographic representationb	Recency of data collection	Age and sex representation	Sample size
Biological, clinical, and functional markers (5) Nutrient adequacy of individual diets (3) Nutrient adequacy of household diets (2)c Nutrient adequacy of national food supplies (1) Nutrient-informative food-group intake of individuals or households (1)	Representative of the entire geographic area of interest (5) Representative of 75%–99% of the total population in the geographic area of interest (4) Representative of 50%–74% of the total population in the geographic area of interest (3) Representative of 25%–49% of the total population in the geographic area of interest (2) Representative of 10%–24% of the total population in the geographic area of interest (1)	< 3 y (5) 3–4 y (4) 5–6 y (3) 7–8 y (2) 9–10 y (1)	Estimates for exact age and sex group of interest (5) Estimates for either a subgroup within the age and sex group of interest representing at least half of the group; or an age and sex group, at least half of which includes the age and sex group of interest (4) Estimates for an age and sex group that includes the age and sex group of interest, but less than half of which includes the age and sex group of interest; or estimates for an age and sex group that is similar to but excludes the age and sex group of interest entirely (3) Household or food balance sheet estimates, less than half of which includes the age and sex group of interest (2) Estimates for an age and sex group that is similar to but excludes the age and sex group of interest entirely (1)	> 1,000 (5) 500–1,000 (4) 300–499 (3) 100–299 (2) 50–99 (1) Based on national food supplies (0)

^aNumbers in parentheses represent the weight value to be used in weight-score calculations.

^bDivide the population total that the study is representative of by the total population of the geographic area of interest.

^cIf the population of interest is very young children, this score should be reduced to 1.