Focus of Activities
The Diet Assessment Research Unit (DARU) is a resource that is available to researchers both within the USC community and at other institutions to provide expertise in the design, collection, processing and analysis of information on dietary habits and nutrient intake. Diet is assessed for two main purposes: 1) in observational studies to assess the role of diet in health; and 2) to evaluate the effectiveness of intervention strategies in modifying diet. For the former, we rely mainly on custom-designed food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) that can focus on the overall diet or some subset of foods or nutrients. The goal is often to capture information on usual diet. For interventions, where the intent is to accurately measure current diet, we may use a structured assessment instrument such as the FFQ, but more commonly we will assess individual nutrient or food group intake using the 24-hour recall interview (24HR).

Assessment tools

• Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQ)
• Twenty-four Hour Diet Recall Interviews (24HR)
• NCI Fat and Fruit and Vegetable Screening Instruments and other short list FFQs
• Consultation and Statistical Analysis of Dietary Intake Data

Direction and Staff
Director: James R. Hebert, ScD
Senior Manager and Analyst: Tom Hurley, MS
Data Manager and Analyst: Linzhi Xu, PhD (c)
Senior Dietitian: Shelly Smith, RD, MPH
Asst. Data Manager: Philip Cavicchia, MS (c)

For more information:
Tom Hurley
803.576.5621
TomHurley@sc.edu
Dietary Assessment Brochure (PDF)