Nutrition is well-recognized as a necessary component of educational programs for physicians. This is to be valued in that of all factors affecting health in the United States, none is more important than nutrition. This can be argued from various perspectives, including health promotion, disease prevention, and therapeutic management. In all cases, serious consideration of nutrition related issues in the practice is seen to be one means to achieve cost-effective medical care. These modules were developed to provide more practical knowledge for health care providers, and in particular primary care physicians. The modules were written by dieticians and nutritionists working closely with physicians. The modules were field tested and reviewed by basic and clinical science faculty in a number and variety of educational programs. This module is designed to describe the clinically applicable techniques and procedures of nutritional status assessment, and provide guidelines for implementing these techniques in a primary care setting. Emphasis is placed on common nutritional problems likely to be encountered by the family physician. Included are the learning goals and objectives, self-checks of achievement with regard to goals, and references for the physician and for the physician to give to the patient. The appendices include skinfold thickness and arm-muscle circumference techniques, and a chart of ideal weight and urinary creatinine for height. (CW)