[Approaching Chinese Diet Balance Index]

Objective: To establish Chinese Diet Balance Index (DBI).; To evaluate the overall diet quality; To provide an effective measurement instrument for researchers, food and nutrition policy makers and the public.

Methods: The Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents motivated the selection of food-based components. The components were weighted and assigned cut-offs and point schemes based on the Chinese Food Guide Pagoda. Five scoring method are used to combine the component scores.

Results: 8 food-based components were selected, these are the intake of cereals, vegetable and fruit, bean and dairy, animal food, alcohol, salt, oil as well as the food variety. The scoring system including total score, lower bound score, higher bound scores, and diet quality distance can reflect both under and over intake. DBI can be used as a measurement to evaluate the dietary quality of the individual or the population.