Methods Used to Support Dietary Assessment Accuracy in Young Children: A Scoping Review

Background/Objectives: Among young children, self-reported dietary assessment has unique challenges, limiting ability to accurately assess intake. This review describes methods used to support accuracy of self-reported dietary intake, including support tools, proxy reporting, and methods to determine diet misreporting and its prevalence, for assessing energy intake (EI) among young children (2–12 years). Methods: Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, relevant databases were searched in October 2024 and November 2025. Studies published since 2000, using a self-reported dietary assessment methodology and reporting on total EI among children between the ages of 2 and 12 years, were included. Two reviewers completed title and abstract screening. After achieving a 94% inter-rater agreement on full-text review of a random sample of 20% of texts, the remaining full texts were reviewed by a single reviewer. Results: The 52 included articles reported 24-h dietary recalls (n = 23) and food records (n = 14) as the most common individual assessment methods. The use of at least one support tool (i.e., visual aids, household utensils) was commonly reported (n = 36); however, using multiple support tools (n = 13) or technology-based supports (n = 1) was less common. Proxy reporting was frequently reported (n = 31) and occurred in all studies in which children were ≤ 5 years; however, few studies used multiple-proxy reporters (n = 6). A limited number of studies (n = 9; 17%) reported that caregivers and children were trained for the dietary assessment, but none actually described in detail what the training entailed for using support tools or proxy reporting. Only 40% of studies reported procedures for identifying dietary misreporting; among those that did, methodologies varied, yet all identified evidence of dietary misreporting. Conclusions: Self-reported dietary assessment used varying strategies to support assessment accuracy. Evaluating which support tool, combination of support tools, or the use of proxy or multiple-proxy reporters, relative to the burden that may be associated with their use, on increasing accuracy of self-reported dietary intake is needed. Additionally, details on implemented methodologies need to be consistently reported to support replication.