1 Dietary Exposure Assessment (DEX) group, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France; 2 Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil; 3 Departamento de Nutrição, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil; 4 Department of Social and Applied Nutrition, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; 5 Sergio Arouca National School of Public Health, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Ministry of Health, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; 6 Department of Epidemiology, Institute of Social Medicine, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; 7 Center for Nutrition and Health Research, National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Mexico.
Introduction: The Latin America-DIETetary Assessment (LA-DIETA) project, as the methodological part of a global nutrition surveillance initiative, aims to adapt and validate the existing international dietary methodology, i.e. the GloboDiet 24-hour dietary recall application and its tools, for Latin America (LA) to enable dietary intake comparisons within and between LA countries. Herein, the aim is to describe the procedure and approaches needed to adapt and harmonize the GloboDiet methodology for use in two Latin American pilot countries, Brazil and Mexico. Methods: About 70 common and country-specific databases on foods, recipes, dietary supplements, quantification methods and coefficients are currently being customized and translated following standardized guidelines, starting from existing Spanish and Portuguese versions. Results: The preliminary results of this work highlighted the need of specific adaptations to customize the GloboDiet databases for Brazil and Mexico. New sub-groups have been added into the existing common food classification together with new descriptors considered to better classify and describe specific Brazilian and/or Mexican foods. Quantification methods are being critically evaluated and adapted considering consumed foods amounts and food packages available in these two LA countries. Furthermore, and separately for each country, the photos to be used for quantification purposes have been recently identified. The Brazilian photo album is currently under development and its validation study is foreseen for 2016. Conclusions: The successful customization of the GloboDiet LA versions in these two pilot countries will provide new insights on the adaptation of this dietary international tool to the LA context. The next step will consist of validating and testing the feasibility of using these two Portuguese and Spanish versions adapted for Brazil and Mexico, respectively, before broader expansion to other LA countries. GloboDiet-LA will represent a major benefit for LA in terms of standardized dietary methodologies, for multiple surveillance, research and prevention purposes.