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2.2
Assessing Nutritional Intake
Summary
●● Dietary intake can be assessed by: ●● Parents and older children can be taught how
to assess food and drink intake using the
• estimating or weighing food consumed over principles of healthy eating and they can use
one or more days and recording this in a this to make changes to improve the nutritional
food diary or adequacy of the diet.
• completing a 24-hour recall of all food and ●● Nutritional analysis of the diets of large
drink consumed, or a food frequency populations of children (e.g. Avon Longitudinal
questionnaire (FFQ). Study of Parents and Children; ALSPAC) have
been used to find associations between dietary
●● A recorded food diary can be used to assess intakes and later health outcomes. The
energy and nutritional adequacy by either adequacy of the diet is assessed by comparison
comparison with the principles of healthy with Dietary Reference Values (DRV).
eating or by using dietary analysis software
containing a database of foods, energy and
nutrients.
As discussed in Chapter 1.1, a child’s diet is Assessing the recent or usual dietary intake can be
considered nutritionally adequate if the nutrient done by either taking a dietary history or weighing
content of the foods, drinks and any supplements the food and drink offered to a child over a set
consumed meet: period of time.
●● the Reference Nutrient Intakes (RNIs) for each Taking a dietary history is usually done in one of
of the nutrients and the following ways:
●● the Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) for ●● Food and drink diary: A carer or the child
energy for that child’s age and activity level. records the food and drinks consumed over one
or several days – ideally including a mixture of
In Chapter 1.2 the principles of healthy eating are weekdays and weekend days.
discussed, and individual diets can be assessed
against those principles. ●● 24-hour recall: The child, parents or carers are
asked to remember what the child has eaten in
To be able to assess the nutritional adequacy of the last 24 hours or on the previous day.
an individual child’s diet you need to know:
●● Food frequency questionnaire: The child or
●● what the child has consumed or normally parent or carer reports how often and in what
consumes in terms of food, drinks and supplements quantity a range of different foods are generally
eaten.
●● the energy and nutrient content of those foods,
drinks and supplements Alternatively the second method entails weighing
both the food and drinks offered to the child over a
●● the age, gender and physical activity of the child.
