In examining the relationship between nutritional exposure and disease aetiology, the importance of a carefully considered experimental design cannot be overstated. A sound experimental design involves the formulation of a clear research hypothesis and the identification of appropriate measures of exposure and outcome. It is essential that these variables can be measured with a minimum of error, whilst taking into account the effects of chance and bias, and being aware of the risk of confounding variables. The first edition of Design Concepts in Nutritional Epidemiology presented a throrough guide to research methods in nutritional epidemiology. Since publication of the 1st edition, we now have a much better understanding of the characteristics of nutritional exposure that need to be measured in order to answer questions about diet-disease relationships. The 2nd edition has been extensively revised to include the most up-to-date methods of researching this relationship. Included are new chapters on qualitative and sociological measures, anthropometric measures, gene-nutrient interactions, and cross-sectional studies. Design Concepts in Nutritional Epidemiology will be an essential text for nutritionists and epidemiologists, helping them in their quest to improve the quality of information upon which important public health decisions are made.

Introduction Preface Part A: The scientific concepts underlying study design 1. Overview of the principles of nutritional epidemiology 2. Design, planning, and evaluation of nutritional epidemiological studies 3. Sampling, study size, and power 4. Covariate measurement errors in nutritional epidemiology: effects and remedies Part B: The measurement of exposure and outcome 5. Food consumption, nutrient intake, and the use of food composition tables 6. Assessment of food consumption and nutrient intake 7. Biochemical markers of nutrient intake 8. The validation of dietary assessment 9. Socio-demographic and psycho-social variables 10. Anthropometric measures 11. Gene-nutrient interactions in epidemiological studies Part C: The design of nutritional epidemiological studies 12. Ecological studies 13. Cross-sectional studies 14. Cohort studies 15. Case-control studies 16. Experimental studies: Clinical trials, field trials, community trials, and intervention studies