Dietary Intake Assessment: From Traditional Paper-Pencil Questionnaires to Technology-Based Tools

Abstract

Self-reported methods of recall and real-time recording are the most commonly used approaches to assess dietary intake, both in research as well as the health-care setting. The traditional versions of these methods are limited by various methodological factors and burdensome for interviewees and researchers. Technology-based dietary assessment tools have the potential to improve the accuracy of the data and reduce interviewee and researcher burden. Consequently, various research groups around the globe started to explore the use of technology-based tools. This paper provides an overview of the: (1) most-commonly used and generally accepted methods to assess dietary intake; (2) errors encountered using these methods; and (3) web-based and app-based tools (i.e., Compl-eatTM, Traqq, Dutch FFQ-TOOLTM, and “Eetscore”) that have been developed by researchers of the Division of Human Nutrition and Health of Wageningen University during the past years.