Monitoring micronutrient deficiency conditions

Data for monitoring of nutritional status need to be selected and interpreted with as much care as goes into the quality control for their collection. Cost and efficiency need to be considered as well as interpretability. Few indices of nutritional status are completely specific, and those that are reasonably specific tend to be not very sensitive. As progress toward the control of micronutrient deficiency conditions occurs, the focus needs to be on early indicators of deficiency and risk, and on risk factors including dietary intake.