Development of a diet history questionnaire for studies of older persons.

This paper describes the criteria of a simplified diet history method and the procedures for developing a dietary questionnaire for studies of older persons. Suggestions are included on selecting food items representative of the population's dietary patterns, designing objective methods to estimate quantitative and frequency intakes of food items, and collecting information on other dietary practices. Potential problems in dietary surveys among older persons are discussed, along with their prevention or alleviation.