Development of an iron checklist to guide food intake.

An iron checklist comprised of 93 foods was developed to evaluate food choices in terms of iron concentration or frequency of use and to incorporate principles of iron nutriture. The instrument was tested with 89 Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program technicians. The correlation between points scored on the iron checklist and milligrams of iron calculated from the same 24-hour recall was 0.77. Analyzing iron points by food group highlighted the fact that half of the group had not consumed milk foods and half of the group was receiving 6 to 18 mg iron from the meat group. Seventy-five percent of the sample improved their knowledge of iron foods by using the checklist to assess their diets and to identify food sources of iron. In comparison with the use of a computer, use of the iron checklist was shown to be cost-effective for assessing, teaching, and evaluating program outcomes.