Methods of Measuring Nutrition - Research Proposal Example

Food record is another nutrition analysis, in this method, the person being reviewed is required to record quantities of different food items he has consumed over a certainly specified tenure (Lee, 1996). The pros of this method are: the incumbent is not required to use his memory instead he records whatever he consumes as soon as he consumes it and secondly, a record is to record a detailed report of what an individual has consumed. This record limits the participation of illiterate individuals and the individual might not provide details of certain foods that he has no aim to reduce.

Another approach to conducting nutrition analysis is Food Frequency Questionnaire, in this method the respondent is required to report the occurrence of consumption of different foods out of a particular food list over. The reporting is done while keeping in view a specific consumption time period of food such as a year or a month. This method is very inexpensive and the people who are being analyzed can easily complete the questionnaire. The downside of this method is that the predefined list might not include items that an individual is consuming and the subjects memory issues can cause problems.

The dietary history nutrition analysis method is used to obtain information about all the foods that individuals consume over a period of time and how frequently they consume a specific food (Stanfield 2003). This method is used to obtain information about the most usual food consumed and since the length of time is quite higher than other methods, it provides clear knowledge of the frequency of consumption of specific food items. The mental burden of using this method is low but this method costs a lot of time.

In Duplicate Food collection method, an individual is inquired about his consumption of food in the past two times he has consumed food. Food that is used in both portions is recorded and chemical tests are carried out on the food to analyze nutrient intake. The method is quite expensive due to the involvement of chemical testing, plus the respondent might restrict the duplicate consumption of certain food items. The method has a higher degree of accuracy and is best used to measure the intake of iodine.

Food Balance Sheet is another method of analyzing nutrition, in this method consumption of food by a nation is analyzed, in this method comparison of the opening balance of food that a country owns with the closing balance. It is useful in figuring out the nation’s habit of consumption and the overall supply of food in a nation. This method fails to exhibit the distribution of food among the population and does not record the quantity of food that becomes waste.