Selecting a dietary assessment method for a national nutrition survey: a review and evaluation of online 24-h dietary recall tools.

Objective: Online 24-h dietary recall tools are commonly used in nationwide nutrition surveys to assess population diets. With a steep rise in the development of new and more advanced 24-h dietary recall tools, the decision of which tool to use for a national nutrition survey becomes increasingly challenging. Therefore, this short communication outlines the process of selecting a 24-h dietary recall tool for a national nutrition survey in New Zealand.

Design: To identify suitable 24-h dietary recall tools, a review of peer-reviewed and grey literature was conducted (2019-2022). Data on functionalities, validation, usability and adaptability were extracted for eighteen pre-specified tools, which were used in the subsequent evaluation process.

Results: Six of the eighteen tools had new relevant publications since 2019. The fourteen new publications described six validation studies and eight usability studies. Based on pre-selection criteria (e.g. availability, adaptability, previous use in national surveys), three tools were shortlisted: ASA24, Intake24 and MyFood24. These tools were further evaluated, and expert advice was sought to determine the most suitable tool for use in the New Zealand context.

Conclusions: A comprehensive yet time- and cost-efficient approach was undertaken to identify the potential use of online 24-h dietary recall tools for a national nutrition survey. The selection process included key evaluation criteria to determine the tools' suitability for adaptation within the New Zealand context and ultimately to select a preferred tool. A similar approach may be useful for other countries when having to select 24-h dietary recall tools for use in national nutrition surveys.