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Practice Guideline
. 2017 Nov 15;15(1):202.
doi: 10.1186/s12916-017-0962-x.

DIET@NET: Best Practice Guidelines for dietary assessment in health research

Janet E Cade  1 , Marisol Warthon-Medina  2 , Salwa Albar  3 , Nisreen A Alwan  4 , Andrew Ness  5 , Mark Roe  6 , Petra A Wark  7   8 , Katharine Greathead  2 , Victoria J Burley  2 , Paul Finglas  6 , Laura Johnson  9 , Polly Page  10 , Katharine Roberts  11   12 , Toni Steer  10 , Jozef Hooson  2 , Darren C Greenwood  13 , Sian Robinson  14   15 ; DIET@NET consortium
Collaborators, Affiliations
Practice Guideline

DIET@NET: Best Practice Guidelines for dietary assessment in health research

Janet E Cade et al. BMC Med. .

Abstract

Background: Dietary assessment is complex, and strategies to select the most appropriate dietary assessment tool (DAT) in epidemiological research are needed. The DIETary Assessment Tool NETwork (DIET@NET) aimed to establish expert consensus on Best Practice Guidelines (BPGs) for dietary assessment using self-report.

Methods: The BPGs were developed using the Delphi technique. Two Delphi rounds were conducted. A total of 131 experts were invited, and of these 65 accepted, with 48 completing Delphi round I and 51 completing Delphi round II. In all, a total of 57 experts from North America, Europe, Asia and Australia commented on the 47 suggested guidelines.

Results: Forty-three guidelines were generated, grouped into the following four stages: Stage I. Define what is to be measured in terms of dietary intake (what? who? and when?); Stage II. Investigate different types of DATs; Stage III. Evaluate existing tools to select the most appropriate DAT by evaluating published validation studies; Stage IV. Think through the implementation of the chosen DAT and consider sources of potential biases.

Conclusions: The Delphi technique consolidated expert views on best practice in assessing dietary intake. The BPGs provide a valuable guide for health researchers to choose the most appropriate dietary assessment method for their studies. These guidelines will be accessible through the Nutritools website, www.nutritools.org .

Keywords: Dietary assessment methods; Guidelines; Nutrition; Nutritional epidemiology; Public health.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests. The University of Leeds is establishing a spin-out company, myfood24, for our new online dietary assessment tool. Professor Janet Cade is a director and shareholder of myfood24.

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Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Steps for the development of the Best Practice Guidelines for dietary assessment
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Experts of the Delphi consultation rounds
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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