What should a nutrition intake form include?
In short: A nutrition intake form should collect the information needed to prepare for an initial consultation, including the client's goals, relevant medical history, medications, allergies, eating habits, food preferences and lifestyle factors. Aim to keep it manageable, with more detailed dietary assessments and clinical measurements collected separately when appropriate. Information about services, privacy and consent should be provided clearly before the consultation.
1 min 6 s videoCaptions onUpdated 11 October 2026
The sections that earn their place
Every question should change what you do in the first session or the first plan. If it doesn't, cut it.
| Section | What to ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Goals | What they want to change, and by when | Sets the targets and the conversation |
| Medical history | Diagnosed conditions, relevant current symptoms, previous diagnoses and surgeries, pregnancy or breastfeeding where relevant, and eating disorder history or risk indicators where appropriate to your service | Some conditions change the advice. Answers may identify circumstances that need referral or further assessment |
| Medications and supplements | Names and doses | Warfarin generally calls for consistent vitamin K intake and appropriate monitoring, not blanket avoidance. Metformin and vitamin B12, and GLP-1 medications and appetite, can also affect the plan. Medication changes are for the prescriber |
| Allergies and intolerances | Which foods, what happens when they eat them, and whether it is a diagnosed allergy, an intolerance or a dislike | Helps identify foods that require avoidance, the nature of reported reactions and whether further medical assessment is needed |
| Eating pattern | A typical day, meal timing, alcohol | Your starting point for small changes |
| Preferences | Diet style, dislikes, favourite foods, cultural rules | A plan they like is a plan they follow |
| Lifestyle | Sleep, stress, activity, work hours, who cooks, budget | Decides what is realistic |
Height, weight and body measurements can be useful, depending on the service and the client's needs, but some clients find them hard to write down. Keep them optional where clinically appropriate and take them in the session if you need to.
A brief safety screen is worth including, such as asking whether any food reaction has ever been severe, for example breathing difficulty or collapse. Answers help you decide what to clarify or refer on. They are not a way to diagnose a condition from a questionnaire alone.
Intake, assessment and consent are different forms
An intake form collects the information needed to prepare for the first consultation. A more detailed nutrition assessment may explore dietary intake, anthropometric measurements, relevant biochemistry and clinical findings. Informed consent and privacy information should also be addressed during onboarding, whether through separate documents or clearly identified sections of the same process.
Avoid overwhelming clients with an unnecessarily long onboarding questionnaire. Send the intake first and the assessment when you need it. The nutrition assessment form is a printable starting point for that deeper step.
Keep it short enough to finish
- Aim for 15 to 25 questions as an illustrative starting point, not a validated or mandatory standard. If you need more, consider splitting them across two forms.
- Make a question required only when you genuinely cannot plan without the answer. Some safety-critical information, such as allergies and medications, may appropriately be required.
- Use follow-up questions that appear only when relevant. "Do you take any medications?" followed by "Which ones?" only for a yes.
- Avoid unnecessary duplication, but revisit important medical, allergy or safety information during the consultation when clarification is needed.
- Tell the client up front roughly how long it takes.
Questions that get useful answers
Vague questions get vague answers. A few rewrites that work better:
| Instead of | Ask |
|---|---|
| Do you eat healthily? | Walk me through what you typically eat and drink on a usual weekday. |
| Any allergies? | Which foods cause a reaction, and what happens? |
| What's your goal? | What would be different in three months if this worked? |
| Do you cook? | How many evenings a week do you cook, and for how many people? |
| How is your stress? | Rate your stress this month from 1 to 10. |
The allergy question matters most. "Peanuts, face swells" and "peanuts, don't like them" need very different plans. Planning around allergies and foods to avoid explains why.
Suspected allergies may need clarification of diagnosis, timing, reaction severity and any history of anaphylaxis. Where serious reactions are reported, appropriate safety precautions and medical referral may be necessary.
The usual-weekday question is a conversation starter, not a complete assessment of habitual dietary intake. Use a fuller diet history when you need one.
Treat the answers as health data
Nutrition intake forms often collect sensitive personal information, including health data. Under UK and EU GDPR, health information is generally classified as special-category data and requires additional protection, including an appropriate lawful basis and condition for processing. In the US, HIPAA applies to covered entities and relevant business associates, rather than every nutrition or wellness business.
Use a system with security measures appropriate to the sensitivity of the information, restrict access to authorised individuals and provide clear privacy information explaining how client data is collected, used, stored and retained. Before using an online form or email service, check that it meets your applicable data protection obligations. Consent to receive nutrition services is separate from the lawful basis for processing personal data.
How to do it in Foodzilla
Foodzilla has built-in intake forms you can copy and edit, and smart forms that write the client's answers straight onto their profile. Forms need the Professional plan or above.
- 1Go to Forms & Bookings and stay on the Forms tab. Under Templates, find New Client Intake or Health & Medical History and press Use template to make your own copy.
- 2Edit, add or remove questions. To ask something only when it applies, open Conditional follow-ups on a question, for example "If they answer Yes, also ask them" which medications they take. Press Save Form.
- 3Turn on Send automatically to new clients so every new client gets the form in their app and client portal as soon as they are added.
- 4Add the smart forms. Meal Plan Preferences & Dietary Restrictions saves the client's diet, allergies, foods to avoid and favourite foods to their profile, ready for the meal plan generator. Health & Body Goals updates their details and calculates calorie and macro goals.
- 5To send a form to an existing client, open their dashboard, choose More, then Forms..., then Send Form. When they've finished, press View Submission to read the answers or download a PDF.
Good to know
- Keep onboarding manageableAn intake form and Foodzilla's Meal Plan Preferences smart form can help collect the information needed for an initial plan without overwhelming the client. Use separate forms or conditional questions where they make the process easier.
- Read it before the sessionReviewing the client's answers beforehand helps you identify priorities, prepare relevant follow-up questions and spend more of the consultation discussing their needs rather than collecting basic information.