application) The Fourth International Conference on Dietary Assessment Methods will be held in Tucson, Arizona from September 17-20, 2000 at the El Conquistador Sheraton. Participation for the Fourth Conference is expected to have about 500 attendees from more than 30 countries. The conference will consist of workshops, round table discussions, plenary sessions, concurrent sessions and poster sessions. Dietary methods are the cornerstone for conducting epidemiological and intervention studies on diet and health. The overall goals of the Conference are to enhance the understanding of changing dietary patterns as they relate to diet and health and to facilitate the development and monitoring of nutrition related health objectives through the use of better methods of assessing food and nutrient intakes. The target audience for the conference includes (1) researchers who work on developing new dietary assessment methods and who compare and evaluate dietary assessment methods, and (2) current and potential users of dietary data and dietary assessment methods in research settings or as part of clinical and public health programs. The Fourth International Conference on Dietary Assessment Methods will addresses several of the """"""""Healthy People 2000"""""""" priority areas including (1) nutrition, (2) maternal and infant health, (3) heart disease and stroke, (4) cancer, and (5) diabetes and chronic disabling conditions. This conference will have sessions dedicated to methods for determining the extent of food insecurity and hunger in developed and developing countries, and sessions on measuring the dietary intake of nutrients and non-nutrients that are associated with health. Weaved throughout these sessions will be presentations that focus on improved data collection methods and statistical methods for improving the analysis of dietary data. Specific conference aims are to: (1) Provide a forum for sharing new knowledge and ideas. (2) Promote a better understanding of the strengths and limitations of current dietary assessment methodologies. (3) Stimulate interdisciplinary approaches to dietary assessment research. (4) Focus attention on methodological issues of particular concern. (5) Address methodological issues involved in comparison of international studies. (6) Identify progress and future research priorities in diet assessment methodology. (7) Publish the proceedings of the conference.
