Weighed Food Record

The Weighed Food Record (WFR) is a prospective dietary assessment method in which the respondent weighs and records every food and beverage at the moment of consumption, weighing back any leftovers, to obtain a precise quantitative measure of intake. Because it removes the portion-size guesswork that limits recalls and food-frequency questionnaires, it is widely regarded as the reference or gold-standard method against which other dietary instruments are validated. Sheila Bingham and colleagues' classic studies in the British Journal of Nutrition compared weighed records with recalls and questionnaires and, using the 24-hour urinary nitrogen biomarker, demonstrated that weighed records most closely track an objective measure of protein intake. The cost is high respondent burden and the risk that the act of weighing changes what people eat.