1. Dietary Intake Assessment Tools
Tools and questionnaires used to assess dietary intake, frequency, and quality.
Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQs)
- NCI Diet History Questionnaire (DHQ)
Validated tool — measures diet intake, portion sizes, and frequency. Standardized for comparison across studies.
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- NCI Dietary Assessment Primer
Not validated — educational resource to improve study design in dietary assessment methodology.
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- Food Frequency Questionnaire (General)
A common dietary intake tool to capture long-term eating patterns.
24-Hour Recalls and Screeners
- Automated Self-Administered 24-Hour Recall (ASA24)
Validated tool — web-based self-report system guiding users through food and beverage recall for the past 24 hours.
ASA24 Website
Validation: Subar AF et al., J Acad Nutr Diet, 2012.
Read Article
- NCI Diet Screener Questionnaire (DSQ)
Validated tool — brief dietary assessment for large-scale studies; estimates intake of fruits, vegetables, dairy, sugars, and grains.
Scoring Algorithm Paper
- NHANES Data
Not a tool — national dataset for dietary and health data from representative U.S. samples.
NHANES Website
- NCCOR Tools and Registries
- Guide to Methods for Assessing Childhood Obesity
Read Guide
- NCCOR Measures Registry
Central repository providing reliability and validity info for nutrition-related measures.
Measures Registry
Diet Quality and Index-Based Tools
- Healthy Eating Index (HEI)
Validated tool — measures alignment of diets with dietary guidelines; provides composite score for diet quality.
Healthy Eating Index 2020
Reference: Reedy J. et al., J Acad Nutr Diet, 2018.
- Global Dietary Database (GDD)
Validated tool — compiles international dietary intake data for global nutrition surveillance.
Global Dietary Database
References:
- Miller V. et al., BMJ Glob Health, 2021.
- Karageorgou D. et al., Public Health Nutr, 2024.
- Dietary Quality Questionnaire (DQ-Q)
Validated tool — measures intake of 29 food groups across target populations (children, women, men).
Tool
Development Article
2. Food Security and Hunger Assessment Tools
Validated scales used to assess access to food, food insecurity, and hunger experiences.
- USDA Household Food Security Survey Modules
Validated — measures U.S. household food security levels.
Includes:
- Full Module
- 6-Item Short Form
- Child Self-Administered Version
- Spanish-Language Version
USDA Food Security in the U.S.
- Early Childhood Food Insecurity Experience Scale (EC-FIES)
Emerging tool — monitors food insecurity among children aged 6–59 months in humanitarian settings.
Source: UNICEF, 2025.
- Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)
Validated 8-question scale — measures prevalence and determinants of food insecurity globally.
Reference: Cafiero C. et al., 2018
- Latin American and Caribbean Food Security Scale (ELCSA)
Validated 15-question scale — tailored for use in Latin American and Caribbean regions.
Reference: Gaitán-Rossi P. et al., 2021
- Household Hunger Scale (HHS)
Validated — measures severity of hunger over the past 30 days in low-resource settings.
VAM Resource Center
- Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS)
Validated — assesses prevalence and changes in household food insecurity over time.
- Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDD-W)
Validated proxy indicator — determines micronutrient adequacy for women ages 15–49.
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- Two-Item Screener (Hunger Vital Sign)
Validated — brief screening for households at risk of food insecurity.
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3. Malnutrition Screening and Assessment
Tools designed to identify and assess malnutrition risk and status.
- Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA)
- Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST)
- Simplified Nutritional Appetite Questionnaire (SNAQ)
Validated — screens older adults for risk of malnutrition.
Read Article
- Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST)
- ASPEN Criteria for Malnutrition
Consensus statement — guidelines for diagnosing and documenting adult malnutrition.
Read Statement
- DETERMINE Checklist for Older Adults
Validated checklist — assesses nutritional health risks among older adults.
Read Resource
Reference: National Academies of Sciences, 2022.
4. Food Environment and Policy Tools
Resources that assess or guide environmental and policy-level nutrition factors.
- USDA MyPlate
Guidance on healthy eating and balanced food groups.
Visit MyPlate
- Food Environment Atlas (USDA ERS)
Tool — explores relationships between food access and health outcomes.
Atlas
- SuperTracker (USDA)
Tool — tracks food intake, activity, and overall nutrition behaviors.
Archived Info
- Eat Well Toolkit (NIH)
Resource — practical tools and recipes to support healthy eating habits.
Toolkit
- Nutrient Data Laboratory (USDA)
Database — nutrient composition data for food analysis.
FoodData Central
- Healthy Eating Research: Nutrition Policy Resources
Resource — evidence-based tools to evaluate and promote healthy food environments.
Visit Resource
- Food Environment Assessment (Gray Nutrition Lab)
Resource — guidance and tools for assessing community nutrition and food environments.
Learn more
5. Emerging and Digital Assessment Tools
- Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA)
Not validated — mobile-based diet tracking in real-time using apps such as ExpiWell.
References:
- Maugeri A., Barchitta M. (2019). Nutrients, 11(11):2696.
- Schembre SM. et al. (2018). JMIR Mhealth Uhealth, 6(11):e11170.
ExpiWell Website
Additional Resources
- Serón-Arbeloa C. et al. Malnutrition Screening and Assessment. Nutrients, 2022.
- Gallagher D. A Guide to Methods for Assessing Childhood Obesity. NCCOR, 2020.