Application of an Ecological Approach to Assessment of Nutrition in School-Aged Children—A Report from the “Biomarkers of Nutrition for Development: Knowledge Indicating Dietary Sufficiency (BOND-KIDS)” Project Working Group 3

The global health community must extend its attention beyond the “first 1000 d” to include school-aged children (i.e., the “next 7000 d”) given the critical windows of development during this period. An opportunity exists to leverage school settings to implement programs for supporting child health and nutrition. Historically, many school-based programs evaluate “learning” or academic achievement as a priority outcome, with less attention paid to the “learner.” This has left gaps in studying the impact school nutrition programs and interventions may have on children's health and development, and how to measure these outcomes. The “Biomarkers of Nutrition for Development: Knowledge Indicating Dietary Sufficiency (BOND-KIDS)” Project primarily focused on these gaps—specifically, the need for better tools to measure the functional impact of school-based nutritional interventions on the health and development of school-aged children aged 5–19 y. Functionally, BOND-KIDS applied an ecological approach via the organization of 4 interacting thematic working groups (WG): 1) biology (internal environment), 2) environment (external; home, school, physical), 3) assessment, and 4) translation and implementation. This report represents the work of WG 3: assessment, which addresses the specific need for better assessment tools, and also includes general considerations for nutritional assessment in children. We included the evidence, relevance, and feasibility of current approaches in assessing dietary intake, nutritional status, and key functional outcomes for the developing school-aged children. The findings will help to determine context-specific approaches to assess the need for and impact of interventions designed to improve the diet, nutrition, and health of school-aged children. To increase utility and accessibility, the data contained in this report are accessible via a self-service online dashboard. The current version of this dashboard is hosted at https://www.cpnh.cornell.edu/bond-kids, via the Cornell Joan Klein Jacobs Center for Precision Nutrition and Health at Cornell University.