Utilizing Culturally Appropriate Diet Assessment Tools: Proposal for Comprehensive Data Collection of Dietetic Information in South Asian Populations

Context: The growing prevalence of type 2 diabetes among South Asians has been identified as a public health concern globally, sparking interest in improving dietary data collection strategies from individuals within this population. Peer-reviewed research has suggested that dietary assessments, coupled with diet and lifestyle modifications, can improve disease outcomes. Research also suggests that the collection of dietary information needs to be culturally appropriate for the population of interest. Objective: To provide an overview of the use of culturally modified diet assessment tools, and their success in data collection, within nutritional epidemiology literature. Methods: Papers published between January 2006 and January 2018 were identified from 3 electronic databases, supplemented with manual searches of reference lists. The data extraction focused on whether culturally appropriate diet assessment tools had been used with minority or South Asian populations, and whether they yielded response rates >60%. Results: Twenty-four papers were identified. Food frequency questionnaires (n = 18) were the most commonly administered diet assessment, and often used in conjunction with a 24-hour diet recall. In studies where both tools where used (n = 6), the response rates were found to be >60%. All studies included in the review had used a culturally adapted version of the diet assessment tool. Conclusion: Although diet assessment methods can be effective for data collection, the use of culturally adapted tools and interviewer-based administration are important for improved data quality and completeness among minority populations. However, prior to implementation of any tool in a larger scale study, pilot testing of the tools on a representative sample of the study population will be required.