Dietary assessments hold significant importance within the field of public health. However, the current methods employed for dietary assessments face certain limitations and challenges that necessitate improvement. The aim of our study was to develop a reliable and practical dietary assessment tool known as photo-assisted dietary intake assessment (PAD). In order to evaluate its validity, we conducted an analysis on a sample of 71 college students’ dinners at a buffet in a canteen. We compared estimates of food weights obtained through the 24-h recall (24 HR) or PAD method with those obtained through the weighing method; we also evaluated the feasibility of PAD for recording dinner intakes among a sample of college students (n = 76) and elderly individuals (n = 121). In addition, we successfully identified the dietary factors that have a significant impact on the bias observed in weight estimation. The findings of the study indicated that the PAD method exhibited a higher level of consistency with the weighing method compared to the 24 HR method. The discrepancy in D% values between cereals (14.28% vs. 40.59%, P < 0.05), vegetables (17.67% vs. 44.44%, P < 0.05), and meats (14.29% vs. 33.33%, P < 0.05) was clearly apparent. Moreover, a significant proportion of the food mass value acquired through the PAD method fell within the limits of agreement (LOAs), in closer proximity to the central horizontal line. Furthermore, vegetables, cereals, eggs, and meats, for which the primary importance lies in accuracy, exhibited a considerably higher bias with the 24 HR method compared to the PAD method (P < 0.05), implying that the PAD method has the potential to mitigate the quality bias associated with these food items in the 24 HR method. Additionally, the PAD method was well received and easily implemented by the college students and elderly individuals. In conclusion, the PAD method demonstrates a considerable level of accuracy and feasibility as a dietary assessment method that can be effectively employed across diverse populations.

Background/Objectives: Dietary inflammation may influence cardiometabolic health, yet the gut mycobiome and bacterial–fungal interactions remain unclear. Building upon our earlier findings and data from the TALENTs trial (Targeting Aging and Longevity with Exogenous Nucleotides) baseline data, we explored gut fungal profiles and bacterial–fungal co-occurrence patterns in relation to the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) and Life’s Essential 8 (LE8) in older adults. Methods: We enrolled 301 community residents aged 60–70 years, with 285 providing qualified fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequencing data. DII scores were derived from 3-day dietary records to reflect dietary inflammatory risk, and LE8 (integrating health behaviors including physical activity and metabolic health factors including BMI, blood lipids, blood pressure, and blood glucose) was used to assess cardiovascular health; LE8_non-diet was applied as a sensitivity measure. Fungal diversity, genus-level taxa, ecological guilds, and bacterial–fungal associations were analyzed using diversity indices, ZINB/Hurdle models, bootstrap, E-values, DIABLO analysis, and network construction. Results: DII showed an inverse correlation with LE8_non-diet (r = −0.130, p = 0.024). Fungal alpha and beta diversity did not differ significantly across DII-defined groups. Conversely, better cardiovascular status was linked to higher fungal richness, with significantly elevated Chao1 and ACE indices in the high-CVH group (both p < 0.05). Additionally, integrated ZINB, Hurdle, and stability analyses jointly pinpointed four candidate fungal genera that correlated with both DII and LE8. Both ZINB and DIABLO analyses consistently indicated that antagonistic interactions dominated gut bacterial–fungal associations (89.9% vs. 63.8% of negative associations, respectively), with DIABLO further revealing synchronized community-level co-variation between the two kingdoms (r = 0.325, p < 0.01). FUNGuild prediction further revealed saprotrophic guilds enriched in the high-CVH group and host-associated guilds in the low-CVH group, with similar patterns across DII-defined groups. Conclusions: This cross-sectional study reveals gut mycobiome profiles and potential bacterial–fungal co-occurrence patterns among older adults stratified by dietary inflammatory potential and cardiovascular health status, generating testable hypotheses for subsequent nutritional and metabolic research integrating lifestyle behaviors and functional health outcomes.