Nutrition Research Resources

Asking study participants to report what they eat can be challenging for both the researcher and the participant. We have developed several useful resources such as standardized forms and instructional videos to help make this process simpler.

Diet Recording Tools

• Reviewing a Diet Record: For Research Professionals (VIDEO)

Diet Diary Video Series

Sometimes, a research study will ask a study participant (or their parent) to write down what they had to eat and drink on certain day in a food record or “diet diary”. We designed this series of short videos to help research study participants do this. Three videos are available: the first video summarizes everything you need to know to fill in a diet diary, while the other two provide brief but detailed instruction on how to estimate portion sizes and record recipes.

Keeping a Food Diary

In this video, we provide the basics of how and what to record when filling in a diet diary for research, including some tips to make it quick and painless.

Measuring and Estimating Food Amounts

Sometimes the trickiest part of filling in a diet diary is estimating your portions, or how much you ate. This video gives useful tips and tricks for accurately estimating portion sizes.

Writing a Recipe

When you are recording what you eat in a diet diary for research, what do you do when something was made from scratch? This video will show you how to provide recipe information in a diet diary.