Nutritional Assessment of Observed Nutrient Intake: An Interpretation of Recent Requirement Reports

Abstract

During the past decade, and more particularly during the past 5 yr, there has been a growing interest in developing appropriate and effective approaches to the interpretation of observed nutrient intake. More specifically, there has been a growing awareness of the shortcomings of current approaches. The new perspective has two major facets. One is the manner in which nutrient requirement estimates should be interpreted — how variability in nutrient requirements should be taken into account in interpretation. The other is the phenomenon of day-to-day variability of food and nutrient intake, and the related issue of estimation of “usual intake” —how intraindividual variability in intake should be taken into account. This chapter will provide an overview of these two aspects of dietary assessment, as well as touching on related matters, and will then offer practical suggestions for operational approaches to dietary investigations. A valid criticism of much of the material to be presented is that it goes beyond the limits of established scientific fact and includes many assumptions. The only response that can now be offered is that what is presented is a construct around which there is a growing consensus; acceptance of the construct offers the potential both for improved interpretation of dietary data (given the assumptions embodied in recent requirement reports) and for a new opportunity to examine the validity of these assumptions, and hence to improve future requirement reports. The crux is consistency between the development of requirement estimates and their interpretation and application.