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Updated: Jun 25, 2026
'Boden Food Plate': Novel Interactive Web-based Method for the Assessment of Dietary Intake
Published on: September 18, 2018
Comparison of a dietary survey and the duplicate plate method for determining dietary fluoride ingested by young
E Angeles Martinez-Mier1, Sue A Kelly, George J Eckert
1Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry, Indiana University School of Dentistry, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA. esmartin@iupui.edu
Background:
Investigators have attempted to establish the diet's contribution to the total body burden of fluoride in response to a reported trend towards an increase in fluoride intake.
Aim:
The aim of this study was to compare the suitability of two methods to collect dietary data for fluoride intake assessment.
Design:
Assessments were made in 12 children using the duplicate plate and dietary diary methods following a randomized cross-over design. Foods and beverages were analysed for fluoride, and total fluoride intake per day was calculated. Results from each method were compared.
Results:
Mean beverage fluoride intake was estimated at 316 +/- 120 and 422 +/- 195 microg/day utilizing the diary and duplicate plate methods, respectively. Mean food fluoride intake was estimated at 188 +/- 48 microg/day using the diary, whereas it was 130 +/- 41 microg using the duplicate plate method. Total fluoride intake was 504 +/- 138 and 552 +/- 192 microg/day utilizing the diary and duplicate methods. Large variations in daily fluoride intake from both beverages and food were observed between and within children.
Conclusions:
Both methods had inherent shortcomings and sources of error. The duplicate method was more labour intensive and costly; however, the diary method required a large number of assumptions. A combination of both methods seems to be most suitable to obtain reliable data.
