• Indication
• Pros and cons
• Practical considerations
• Resources required
• References
• Examples and links

• Dietary assessment
• Methods
• Estimated food diary
• Practical considerations

Practical considerations

The estimated food diary requires much less interview time than repeated 24 hour recalls. Detailed written instructions should be given to individuals, ideally combined with face to face explanation, but a telephone phone call may be adequate for some population groups. Particular attention should be paid to the estimation of portion size.  The quality of the data has been shown to improve if the record is reviewed by a nutritionist at the end of the data collection period (Cantwell et al, 2006). Again, ideally this would be done face-to-face but a telephone call may suffice.

• Phone calls or SMS messages can be a useful way of maintaining individual motivation and trying to ensure compliance during the assessment period.

• Individuals should be instructed to keep food labels of ready-made meals and other proprietary food products.

• Parents could complete an estimated food diary for their child.

• The diaries should be formatted so they provide adequate space for individuals to record all the data. Hence larger size diaries can be created for children and for the elderly who do not see well. It is useful to supply a separate instruction book so this can be referred to when the diary is being completed. The diary should be convenient to carry, when recording intake away from home.

• The estimated diet diary can be incorporated into protocols for large studies where interview time is limited.

• Feedback about the dietary record may help compliance with the assessment, since there is interest by many to know what their nutrient intake is. This is one of the reasons why feedback has been introduced into the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey. Feedback may need to be delayed or limited for some studies like interventions or longitudinal studies where it could potentially be construed as an intervention.

• The method is relatively expensive due to the cost of coding the records obtained.  MRC Human Nutrition Research, Cambridge UK, estimate that a 4-day diary takes 45 minutes - 1 hour to code. The rich data which this method provides makes a compelling case to seek specific grant funding for diet coding. Collaborative links with centres that routinely carry out diet coding may reduce costs, particularly if the centre has food composition data on specific foods such as ethnic or infant foods or has data on portion size if these are relevant.

• Trained staff are needed to interpret the records and produce nutrient data.

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