Dietary intake assessment - 24-hr recall

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Considerations, Matrix- Populations of Interest
Population of Interest (P=Parent, R=Researcher, C=Child)
Age: <1 yr (P); 1-10 yrs (P); 3-5 yrs (P); 10-12 yrs (P and/or C); 12 yrs+ (C)
Setting: Clinical; Home; Community; Population
Administration Method: Face to Face; CATI

24-hr recall
This method involves a structured interview. A trained
interviewer asks child and/or adult to recall all food and drink
during previous 24 hours. A 24-hour recall can be administered
via paper records or with a computer-assisted program.
Prompts for quantification of portion size or use of food models
are typically employed.
Validity
Improves with childs age and adult assistance. Overcomes the
age related bias as seen with diet records. Parents can proxy
for children <8yr and can assist older children. Food record
prompts can be used. Dietary energy intake is often over or
under-estimated. Energy intake over-estimated in children <9,
but accurate for 15-18 year old children.
When to use
For estimating group means, that is to get an average of
intakes for a group of children; a single recall is sufficient. All
days of the week should be equally represented, or at least
weekdays and weekend days, due to differences in dietary
intakes between days of the week.

For estimating the distribution of individual intakes within a

group or for obtaining usual individual intake; multiple recalls
need to be collected. The number of days needed depends on
the day-to-day variation of intake of the nutrient of interest
and the level of precision desired for the research study. For
energy and the macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates and
fat), 3-10 days has been suggested. For other nutrients such as
micronutrients (calcium, iron, folate) up to 50 days may be
required.

Four to 5 days are often selected as a reasonable compromise

for assessing energy & the macronutrients. If an estimate of
long-term intake is required, 3-4 days in each of the four
seasons of the year is ideal (ie. 12-16 days in total).
Bias
In adults, recalls tend to underestimate intake by about 10%
compared with observed intake.
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Participant burden
Low for single recall as only small amount of time required.
However there is increased burden for increasing number of
recalls.
Considerations (miscellaneous)
It should also be noted that in order to effectively implement a
24-hour recall in research settings, quality control procedures
both in the training of individuals who will be collecting the data
both before collection begins and also during data collection.

After the age of 8, it has been reported that children can just
as accurately report dietary intake as their parents, but only for
the previous 24 hours. As the length of time between
acquisition of data increases, the reporting accuracy decreases,
thus in relation to research of dietary intake in children the
sooner the food is recalled about a certain time period, the
greater the accuracy of the information obtained.
Strengths
Inexpensive
quick
lower respondent burden
can assess current or past diet, can be repeated to gain measure of daily variation and
improve precision. Respondents are less likely to change eating pattern because of short
collection time
no literacy requirement,
applicable for broad populations of different ethnicity,
can be conducted successfully both face-to-face or over the phone.

Limitations
Biases caused by errors in memory, perception,
conceptualization of food portion sizes, presence of observer.
Usual intake of an individual cannot be assessed from one days
intake due to day by day variability. Repeated 24-hr recalls
needed to get population distributions of habitual intake. The
method is dependent on regular eating habits. Food
composition tables are used to estimate nutrient intake.

Recall methods require the use or access to a nutrient analysis

program in order to examine and evaluate data collected. This
then poses the problem of how up-to-date the nutrition
composition tables and how appropriate the tables are to the
actual food compositions of foods available in the area where
the data was collected.
The Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and
Technology (FNRI-DOST) launches the PDRI 2015 during the opening ceremony of the
41st FNRI Seminar Series on July 1, 2015 at the FNRI Auditorium. The 2015 PDRI
adopts the multi-level approach for setting nutrient reference values to meet the needs
of various stakeholders for appropriate nutrient reference values.

This is for planning and assessing diets of healthy groups and individuals. PDRI is the
collective term comprising reference value for energy and nutrient levels of intakes. The
components of PDRI are:

Estimated Average Requirement (EAR): daily nutrient intake level that meets the
median or average requirement of healthy individuals in particular life stage and
sex group, corrected for incomplete utilization or dietary nutrient bioavailability.
Recommended Energy/Nutrient Intake (REI/RNI): level of intake of energy or
nutrient which is considered adequate for the maintenance of health and well-
being of healthy persons in the population.
Adequate Intake (AI): daily nutrient intake level that is based on observed or
experimentally-determined approximation of the average nutrient intake by a
group (groups) of apparently healthy people that are assumed to sustain a
defined nutritional state.
Tolerable Upper Intake Level or Upper Limit (UL): highest average daily nutrient
intake level likely to pose no adverse health effects to almost all individuals in the
general population.

http://www.fnri.dost.gov.ph/index.php/159-fnri-launches-the-philippine-dietary-reference-intakes-pdri-
2015