MEASURING DIETARY-INTAKE IN REMOTE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL COMMUNITIES

This paper reports a comparison of the practicality, acceptability and face validity of five dietary intake methods in two remote Australian Aboriginal communities: weighed dietary intake, 24-hour recall, 'stor e-turnover', diet history and food frequency methods. The methods used to measure individual dietary intake were poorly accepted by the comm unities. Quantitative data were obtained only from the first three met hods. The 24-hour recall method tended to produce higher nutrient inta kes than the weighed intake method and certain foods appeared to be se lectively recalled according to perceived nutritional desirability. Th e 'store-turnover' method was most acceptable to the communities and h ad less potential for bias than the other methods. It was also relativ ely objective, non-intrusive. rapid, easy and inexpensive. However. fo od distribution patterns within the communities could not be assessed by this method. Nevertheless, other similarly isolated communities may benefit by use of the 'store-turnover' method.