History

Sharing information in a timely manner can promote more effective research and application. With this goal in mind, the organizers of the First and Second International Conferences on Dietary Assessment supported an effort to establish a register of dietary assessment calibration and validation studies. Originally, the idea of creating such a register was suggested at the First International Conference on Dietary Assessment in Minneapolis, Minnesota. During 1993, the organizer of the Second International Conference on Dietary Assessment, Walter Willett (Harvard School of Public Health), in collaboration with Laurence Freedman, Carolyn Clifford, Gloria Stables, and Frances Thompson (U.S. National Cancer Institute), circulated a letter and study questionnaires to a wide range of investigators in the field, soliciting information about particular calibration/validation studies. During 1993-1994, study questionnaires were received for 85 calibration/validation studies. Data from these questionnaires were entered into a database and analyzed. Information from the questionnaires was published in the following report and distributed at the Second International Conference on Dietary Assessment Methods in Boston, MA in January 1995.

• Dietary Assessment Calibration/Validation Studies Register: A Status Report. Frances E. Thompson, James E. Moler, Laurence S. Freedman, Carolyn K. Clifford, Gloria J. Stables, Walter C. Willett, U.S. National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, MD. 1994.

Following favorable response to the register, the collaborators concluded that the international nutrition and health community could benefit from accessing this information on the World Wide Web. Additionally, an effort was made to identify published papers about calibration/validation studies and to make the publication abstracts accessible on the World Wide Web. Many such publications were identified from the following publication.

• Bibliography on Validation of Dietary Assessment Methods: A Compilation of References, Abstracts and Descriptions of Methods and Material from 277 Papers. Agneta Ohlin, Eva-May Ohlander, Anna Ekberg, Ake Bruce. National Food Administration. Uppsala, Sweden. 1994.

As new studies and publications are added to this database, this site will offer a current, reliable source of worldwide activity in the area of dietary assessment calibration/validation studies.