Studies assessing food consumption by the scores method: a systematic review

This article describes a systematic review of the literature on studies that have used the scores method proposed by Fornés et al. (2002) to evaluate food consumption and discuss the method from the perspective of food pattern assessment. The search of the Medline, Lilacs and Scielo databases was limited to the English, Portuguese and Spanish languages and to articles published from 2002 to 2016. The inclusion criterion was studies that used the scores method proposed by Fornés et al. to evaluate food consumption. The original search found 8300 items. After reading titles and abstracts and applying the exclusion criteria, 14 articles were selected. The articles evaluating food pattern used different groupings and examined associations with anthropometric, socioeconomic and biochemical variables. It was concluded that the scores method is able to evaluate food patterns and enables associations to be established between anthropometric, biochemical, socioeconomic and clinical variables and the components of the study diet/food grouping to which the individual was exposed.