Dietary Assessment and Quantification Protocol for Pre-school
Children

A 4-day-weighed food record will be used to measure food and beverage intake. The
four dietary days will be consecutive and will always include at least one week-end
day.

A food diary and a digital food scales will be given to the participant’s
parent/caregiver

The fieldworker will make three visits to the participant and their parent/caregiver; a
training visit to explain how to weigh foods and how to fill out the food diary, a
second visit 24-36 hours into the recording period to review the diary, check for
completeness and clarify details regarding specific food descriptors and quantities
and a final visit 1 or 2 days after the recording period to review the rest of the diary,
again checking for completeness and to collect the diary.

An
evaluation
questionnaire
will
be
administered
to
the
participant’s
parent/caregiver on the final visit in order to capture information that may be
missed over the recording period e.g. supplement use or foods that are commonly
forgotten such as beverages
The participants will be asked to record detailed information on the following:

The amount and description of all foods, beverages and supplements consumed
including the brand of product and details of any leftovers

The cooking method used (where applicable)

The time of each eating or drinking occasion
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
The participant’s definition of each eating or drinking occasion (e.g. morning snack,
lunch etc.)

The location where the meal/snack was prepared (e.g. home, child-minders,
restaurant etc.)

Who fed the child this meal

The container that the food was served in (e.g. bottle, beaker, bowl etc.)

The size and type of the contact packaging of the food where applicable
Food quantification
Whilst this survey will use a weighed intake methodology, there may be some foods that
aren’t weighed or don’t need to be weighed. Hence foods and beverages consumed will be
quantified according to the hierarchy below.
1. Weighing - A portable food scales (Tanita, Japan) will be given to the
parent/caregiver of each participant. The fieldworker will give detailed instructions
(including a demonstration) as to how to use the food scales to the parent/caregiver
during the training session. This demonstration will include weighing of foods that
the child consumes (e.g. breakfast cereal, juice, etc.). For each participant, the
fieldworker will make themselves aware at the initial visit of habitual feeding vessels
used (e.g. bottle, sippy cup, beaker, bowl etc.)
2. Photographic Food Atlas of children’s portion sizes (Young Person’s Food Atlas Pre-School, Food Standards Agency and Safefood) – The researcher will carry a
photo book of generally consumed foods in varying portion sizes. Where a food has
not been weighed, for any reason, such as unable due to eating out in a restaurant,
the fieldworker will show the parent/caregiver pictures of the food and ask them to
choose the closest picture to what was eaten. These pictures can later be matched
up by the field worker to their corresponding weights in another document.
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3. Manufacturer’s Information - For certain foods, the weight of the amount eaten can
be obtained by deriving it from weights printed on food packaging. These foods
include confectionery, savoury snacks, chilled and frozen foods, franchised fast
foods, canned or bottled goods, packaged bakery goods, yoghurts. To facilitate
collection of such data, parents/caregivers will be asked to keep any packaging from
food and beverages consumed during the recording period. An extensive manual of
manufactured products has been compiled by the research team and is regularly
updated.
4. IUNA information Average portions of foods have been compiled by the IUNA
survey team. These include fruit, vegetables, processed meats, meat products,
cakes, breads, bread rolls and takeaway foods.
5. Food Portion Sizes (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, 1997) Standard
weights for many foods can be obtained from this book. It is particularly useful for
sauces, spreads, preserves etc.
6. Household Measures Sugar consumed on breakfast cereal, in tea/coffee, on
pancakes etc. and oils used in cooking/dressings do not need to be weighed and can
be described as teaspoons or tablespoons etc. irrespective of whether they are
consumed in or outside the home. Household measure weights of these foods are
given in the Food Portion Size book (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food,
1997).
7. Estimated - Food quantities are estimated if the fieldworker makes an assessment of
the amount likely to have been consumed based on their knowledge of the
respondent’s general eating habits observed during the recording period.
Version 1
Dietary Methodology & Quantification
13th May 2010