ABSTRACT
During the last three and a half decades unique challenges have plagued researchers’ attempts to assess school-age children’s dietary intake. Lessons learned during this period from 102 validity and reliability studies of the application of recalls, records, food frequency questionnaires (FFQs), checklists, screeners, and observations among school-age children are summarized in this report. This updated review combines the studies published from 2000 to 2005 with the authors’ two previous literature reviews on this topic.1,2 Major additions include a category of food recall reliability studies and one for diet history validity studies. The category of FFQs was expanded to include checklists and screener type questionnaires. At the close of this review are recommendations for use of the established methods and discussion of the continuing challenges of measuring children’s dietary behaviors.
