Assessing dietary intake in the management of obesity

This paper focuses on assessing the caloric-intake side of the energy balance equation in clinical settings. In the treatment of obesity, dietary assessment may have many purposes including the following: 1) establishing a baseline of eating patterns to determine targets of intervention and to gauge progress, 2) providing a means of monitoring change in the targeted dietary areas and behaviors, and 3) allowing for ongoing feedback to the patient. The types of data to be gathered in dietary assessment will depend on the purposes of the assessment. The nature, advantages, and disadvantages of the following dietary assessment methods are reviewed: 24-hour recall, diet history interview and questionnaire, and self-monitoring. When used on an ongoing basis in treatment, self-monitoring enhances weight-loss outcomes. However, compliance with self-monitoring varies widely across patients and over time. Possible methods of increasing compliance are discussed. Recent technological advances in software and hardware systems offer promise in improving compliance and effectiveness of self-monitoring.