POSTER BİLDİRİLER - Spor Bilim

I. ULUSLARARASI FİZİKSEL AKTİVİTE, BESLENME VE SAĞLIK KONGRESİ
1 st INTERNATIONAL PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, NUTRITION AND HEALTH CONGRESS
DIETARY ASSESSMENT METHODS
Assoc. Prof. Efsun KARABUDAK,
Baskent University, Health Sciences Faculty, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Ankara,
Turkey
Nutritional assessment is an evaluation of the nutritional status of individuals or
populations through measurements of food and nutrient intake and evaluation of nutritionrelated
health indicators. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the ultimate
purpose of nutritional assessment is to improve human health.
There are various methods available to assess the nutritional status of an individual.
It is often helpful to combine multiple methods to obtain a more comprehensive and
accurate assessment. Four different methods are used to collect data used in assessing a
person’s nutritional status; anthropometric, biochemical or laboratory, clinical, and dietary.
A nutrition and dietary assessment is an integral part of determining the nutritional and
health status of an active person. The focus of a dietary assessment is to attain the most
accurate report on the type, amount, cooking method, and time of consumption for all food
and beverages. New and ethnic foods, along with fluid and supplement analysis, are
important components that should be included in the dietary analysis process. This paper
addresses the following: (1) methods of assessing food intake, (2) special issues with
assessing food intake in physical active persons, and (3) translation of dietary assessment
into analysis.
1. Methods of assessing food intake: The ability of the sports nutritionist to determine an
physical active person’s dietary intake and to consequently analyze his or her nutrient status
is important. Reliable and accurate ways to assess food intake using food diaries, 24-hour
dietary recalls, and food frequency questionnaires serve to assess food and nutrient intake
in various ways.
2.Special issues with assessing food intake in physical active persons: For a more complete
and comprehensive assessment of an physical active person’s diet, special consideration
must be given to issues related to periodization (cycles of training or eating), fluid intake,
vegetarian diets, gastrointestinal (GI) issues, supplements, traveling, and weight
management. Physical active persons are often unaware of the importance of these matters
and may not consider these when reporting their diets.
3. Translation of dietary assessment into analysis: Dietitians have a wide availability of
computerized nutritional analysis software, which allows them to obtain individual food
composition information as well as to determine caloric and nutrient intake from nutrition
assessment reports. The computerization process has facilitated the gathering of such data
by eliminating the wearisome task of searching for each food item on printed foodcomposition
tables. However, the process of matching foods and portions recorded during
assessment with those found in databases remains a difficult task. Dietary analysis software
programs are periodically updated.
When conducting dietary assessments of individuals, it is important to be aware of
certain issues, paying particular attention to misreporting, snacking, and openness in
reporting. A successful dietary assessment depends on the expertise of the dietitian, who
needs to be aware of the client’s perceptions toward food as well as toward the
professional.
23 – 26 KASIM 2011 WOW KREMLİN PALACE, ANTALYA, TÜRKİYE
23 – 26 NOVEMBER 2011 WOW KREMLIN PALACE, ANTALYA, TURKEY 44