Part 2 Introduction

Pediatric clinicians complete a form of a nutritional assessment every time they care for a patient at a health supervision visit or monitor growth and development. Although the assessment is often brief and focused, being well versed in how to conduct a full nutritional assessment can help clinicians more effectively establish a diagnosis of nutrition-related concerns, such as malnutrition and iron deficiency anemia; elucidate a potential nutrition-related cause of other common pediatric conditions, such as constipation and lactose intolerance; inform a nutrition-related treatment plan for an already established diagnosis, such as obesity or disordered eating; or tailor nutritional guidance by a child’s age and stage of development and nutritional status.

Clinicians can monitor for healthful nutrition habits and nutrition-related health concerns by using the “ABCD” approach to the nutritional assessment: Anthropometric measures, Biochemical markers, Clinical factors, and Dietary and social histories. Chapter 8, Anthropometric Measures, describes how to measure, evaluate, and monitor important anthropometric measures, such as growth and body mass index percentiles. Chapter 9, Clinical and Biochemical Evaluation, outlines key biochemical markers and clinical factors that play a role in assessing nutritional status. Chapter 10, Dietary History, Social History, and Food Insecurity Screening, describes key components of the dietary and social histories to help assess baseline nutrition behaviors and underlying social, psychological, and cultural factors that influence dietary intake.