Issues in Dietary Assessment at the Community Level: A Case Study of Hispanics in Yakima, Washington

ABSTRACTResources to collect unique dietary assessment data in a community are often not available. Nutritionists must therefore depend on sources of data from populations similar to the local population of interest to guide local public health planning. Sources may include national data and data from community agencies and programs. The major factors to consider in selecting appropriate data sets for needs assessments are discussed, with an example dietary dataset from a Mexican American community. Available data on Mexican Americans nationwide point to a risk of obesity and to the importance of analyzing fat intakes. The community-based (“local”) data and other datasets on Mexican Americans, including national data, were therefore compared and contrasted using intakes of total and saturated fat, cholesterol and fiber, and overall dietary quality. Similarities between datasets included the use of some traditional Mexican foods, high levels of intakes of some protective nutrients, underconsumption of some...