Twenty-four-hour dietary recalls provide high-quality intake data but have been prohibitively expensive for large epidemiologic studies. This study's goal was to assess whether the web-based Automated Self-Administered 24-Hour Recall (ASA24) performs similarly enough to the standard interviewer-administered, Automated Multiple-Pass Method (AMPM) 24-hour dietary recall to be considered a viable alternative. In 2010-2011, 1,081 adults from 3 integrated health systems in Detroit, Michigan; Marshfield, Wisconsin; and Kaiser-Permanente Northern California participated in a field trial. A quota design ensured a diverse sample by sex, age, and race/ethnicity. Each participant was asked to complete 2 recalls and was randomly assigned to 1 of 4 protocols differing by type of recall and administration order. For energy, the mean intakes were 2,425 versus 2,374 kcal for men and 1,876 versus 1,906 kcal for women by AMPM and ASA24, respectively. Of 20 nutrients/food groups analyzed and controlling for false discovery rate, 87% were judged equivalent at the 20% bound. ASA24 was preferred over AMPM by 70% of the respondents. Attrition was lower in the ASA24/AMPM study group than in the AMPM/ASA24 group, and it was lower in the ASA24/ASA24 group than in the AMPM/AMPM group. ASA24 offers the potential to collect high-quality dietary intake information at low cost with less attrition.

Studies of diet and disease risk in India and among other Asian-Indian populations are hindered by the need for a comprehensive dietary assessment tool to capture data on the wide variety of food and nutrient intakes across different regions and ethnic groups. The nutritional component of the India Health Study, a multicentre pilot cohort study, included 3908 men and women, aged 35–69 years, residing in three regions of India (New Delhi in the north, Mumbai in the west and Trivandrum in the south). We developed a computer-based, interviewer-administered dietary assessment software known as the ‘NINA-DISH (New Interactive Nutrition Assistant – Diet in India Study of Health)’, which consisted of four sections: (1) a diet history questionnaire with defined questions on frequency and portion size; (2) an open-ended section for each mealtime; (3) a food-preparer questionnaire; (4) a 24 h dietary recall. Using the preferred meal-based approach, frequency of intake and portion size were recorded and linked to a nutrient database that we developed and modified from a set of existing international databases containing data on Indian foods and recipes. The NINA-DISH software was designed to be easily adaptable and was well accepted by the interviewers and participants in the field. A predominant three-meal eating pattern emerged; however, patterns in the number of foods reported and the primary contributors to macro- and micronutrient intakes differed by region and demographic factors. The newly developed NINA-DISH software provides a much-needed tool for measuring diet and nutrient profiles across the diverse populations of India with the potential for application in other South Asian populations living throughout the world.

Objective: Evaluate the impact of the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) grant program on self-reported fruit and vegetable (FV) expenditures. Design: Pre-post quasi-experimental study design. Setting: Farmers markets and grocery stores in states with FINI projects. Participants: A total of 2,471 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) households in 4 intervention groups who lived near a FINI retailer (farmers market or grocery store) and 4 matched comparison groups who did not live near a FINI retailer. Main Outcome Measures: Awareness and use of point-of-sale incentives and changes in self-reported monthly household FV expenditures. Analysis: Ordinary least squares intent-to-treat regression model using lagged dependent variable model framework.Results: Awareness of FINI was higher among households who were near a FINI retailer and had shopped there before FINI than those who lived near a FINI retailer but had not shopped there before FINI; the number of information sources from which SNAP participants heard about FINI was positively associated with incentive receipt (P < 0.05). Among those who received incentives, the average amount of incentives received at the last shopping trip ranged from $15 to $23. The FINI program had a positive impact on the average monthly FV expenditures for those in the farmers market shopper, grocery store shopper, and grocery store general intervention groups-increases ranged from $9 to $15 (P < 0.05). Conclusions and Implications: Point-of-sale incentives were associated with an increase in FV expenditures among SNAP households. Further research is needed to examine (1) effective messaging strategies to increase incentive awareness and (2) the long-term impact of incentives on FV expenditures.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), State governments, and school districts took unprecedented steps to mitigate the pandemic’s impact on students’ nutrition. To examine the effect of emergency responses on 6-year-old children’s nutritional outcomes, this study analyzed longitudinal data from a national study of children’s feeding practices, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children—Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study-2 (WIC ITFPS-2). Findings include no differences in food insecurity prevalence; however, there were shifts in sources of food, with children in the post-COVID-emergency-declaration (post-ED) group consuming more dietary energy from stores and community food programs and less from restaurants and schools than children in the pre-COVID-emergency-declaration (pre-ED) group (p < 0.01 for all comparisons). Examination of within-person mean differences in 2015 Healthy Eating Index scores and nutrient intakes between ages 5 and 6 years revealed few statistically significant differences between the two groups: children in the post-ED group consumed slightly fewer vegetables (p = 0.02) and less sodium (p = 0.01) than their pre-ED peers. Findings suggest emergency efforts to maintain children’s nutrition were largely successful in the early months of the pandemic. Research is needed to understand the mechanisms by which emergency efforts contributed to these findings.

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