Relative Validity of Starch and Sugar Intake in Japanese Adults as Estimated With Comprehensive and Brief Self-Administered Diet History Questionnaires.

BACKGROUND: In Japan, large-scale epidemiological studies on starch and sugar intake are scarce, mainly due to a lack of a suitable assessment tool. We examined the relative validity of two widely-used dietary assessment questionnaires for Japanese adults, the comprehensive Diet History Questionnaire (DHQ) and the brief DHQ (BDHQ), for estimating the intake of starch and 10 types of sugars: total sugar, sucrose, maltose, lactose, trehalose, glucose, fructose, galactose, and added and free sugars. METHODS: A total of 92 women and 92 men completed 4-day weighed dietary records (DRs) besides the DHQ and BDHQ in each of the four seasons. For each method, starch and sugar intake was calculated according to a recently developed food composition database on starch and sugars for Japanese food items. RESULTS: For most of the carbohydrate variables examined, the median energy-adjusted intake derived from the first DHQ and BDHQ (DHQ1 and BDHQ1, respectively) significantly differed from those derived from the 16-day DRs in both sexes. Spearman correlation coefficients between the 16-day DRs and DHQ1 were acceptable (≥0.31) for all variables (0.31-0.67), except for maltose and trehalose in women (≤0.29). For BDHQ1, the correlations were also acceptable for all variables (0.32-0.64), except for maltose (≤0.26) and galactose (≤0.06). Similar results were observed for the mean of four DHQs and BDHQs. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicated a reasonable ranking ability of DHQ and BDHQ for the intake of starch and most sugars examined, despite a poor ability to estimate the intake at the both group and individual levels.

Validation of a food frequency questionnaire as a tool for assessing dietary intake in cardiovascular disease research and surveillance in Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has emerged as a major public health concern in Bangladesh. Diet is an established risk factor for CVD but a tool to assess dietary intake in Bangladesh is lacking. This study aimed to validate a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) using the 24-h dietary recall method and corresponding nutritional biological markers among rural and urban populations of Bangladesh. METHOD: Participants of both genders aged 18-60 years were included in the analysis (total n = 146, rural n = 94 and urban n = 52). Two FFQs of 166 items were administered three-months apart, during which time three 24-h dietary recalls were also completed. Participants were asked to recall their frequency of consumption over the preceding 3 months. Urine and blood samples were collected for comparison between FFQ-estimates of nutrients and their corresponding biomarkers. Methods were compared using unadjusted, energy-adjusted, de-attenuated correlation coefficients, 95% limits of agreement (LOA) and quartile classification. RESULTS: Fair to moderate agreement for ranking energy, macro and micronutrients into quartiles was observed (weighted k value ranged from 0.22 to 0.58; p < 0.001 for unadjusted data) except for vitamin D (weighted k - 0.05) and zinc (weighted k 0.09). Correlation coefficients of crude energy, macronutrients and common micronutrients including vitamin E, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine, folate, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and sodium were moderately good, ranging from 0.42 to 0.78; p < 0.001 but only fair for vitamin A, ß carotene and calcium (0.31 to 0.38; p < 0.001) and poor for vitamin D and zinc (0.02 and 0.16; p = ns, respectively). Energy-adjusted correlations were generally lower except for fat and vitamin E, and in range of - 0.017 (for calcium) to 0.686 (for fat). De-attenuated correlations were higher than unadjusted and energy- adjusted, and significant for all nutrients except for vitamin D (0.017) to 0.801 (for carbohydrate). The Bland Altman tests demonstrated that most of the coefficients were positive which indicated that FFQ provided a greater overestimation at higher intakes. More than one in three participants appeared to overestimate their food consumption based on the ratio of energy intake to basal metabolic rate cut points suggested by Goldberg. Absolute intake of macronutrients was 1.5 times higher and for micronutrients it ranged from 1.07 (sodium) to 26 times (Zinc). FFQ estimates correlated well for sodium (0.32; p < 0.001), and vitamin D (0.20; p = 0.017) with their corresponding biomarkers and iron (0.25; p = 0.003) with serum ferritin for unadjusted data. Folate, iron (with haemoglobin) and total protein showed inverse association; and fat and potassium showed poor correlation with their corresponding biomarkers for unadjusted data. However, folate showed significant positive correlation (0.189; p = 0.025) with biomarker after energy adjustment. CONCLUSION: Although FFQ showed overestimation for absolute intake in comparison with 24-h recalls, the validation study demonstrated acceptable agreement for ranking dietary intakes from FFQ with 24-h recall methods and some biomarkers and therefore could be considered as a tool to measure dietary intake for research and CVD risk factors surveillance in Bangladesh. The instrument may not be appropriate for monitoring population adherence to recommended intakes because of the overestimation.

Use of the Veggie Meter® as a tool to objectively approximate fruit and vegetable intake among youth for evaluation of preschool and school-based interventions.

BACKGROUND: Reflection spectroscopy is an emerging, non-invasive objective measure used to approximate fruit and vegetable intake. The present study aimed to use a reflection spectroscopy device (the Veggie Meter®, Longevity Link Corporation, Salt Lake City, UT, USA) to assess skin carotenoid status in preschool, middle- and high-school students and to examine associations between skin carotenoids and self-reported dietary intake. METHODS: In Autumn 2018, we used the Veggie Meter® to assess skin carotenoids and age-appropriate validated dietary assessment measures to approximate fruit and vegetable (FV) intake. Preschool participants completed a previously validated pictorial liking tool using an iPad (Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA, USA). Middle-school participants completed selected questions from the validated School Physical Activity and Nutrition (SPAN) (Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA) questionnaire regarding frequency of their FV and beverage intake on the previous day, with additional questions about physical activity. High-school participants' FV intake was assessed using the Fruit and Vegetable Screener (National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA). Spearman correlation coefficients were used to determine bivariate associations between measures of dietary intake and Veggie Meter®-assessed skin carotenoid levels. RESULTS: Mean (SD) Veggie Meter® readings were 266 (82.9), 219 (68.1) and 216 (67.2) among preschool, middle- and high-school students. There was an inverse association between soda intake and Veggie Meter® readings (r = -0.22, P = 0.03) among middle-school students; and a positive association between daily fruit intake and Veggie Meter® readings (r = 0.25, P = 0.06) among high-school students. CONCLUSIONS: The Veggie Meter® comprises a promising evaluation tool for preschool and school-based nutrition interventions.

The use of wearable cameras in assessing children's dietary intake and behaviours in China.

The use of lifelogging device in dietary assessments can reduce misreporting and underreporting, which are common in the previous studies conventional methods. We performed the first study in Chinese children (primary school Grade 4) that applied the wearable cameras in assisting dietary recall. Children (n = 52) wore the wearable cameras (Narrative Clip 2) for seven consecutive days, during which they completed a 3-day 24-h dietary recall at home. Then children modified their dietary recalls at school by reviewing the photos taken by the wearable camera at school, with the assistance of the investigator, and generated the camera-assisted 24-h dietary recalls. Compared with camera-assisted dietary recalls, 8% (n = 160) and 1% (n = 11) of food items were underreported (i.e. not reported at all) and misreported (i.e. reported in an incorrect amount) by dietary recalls without camera-assistance, respectively. Dietary recalls without camera assistance underestimated daily energy intake by 149 ±â€¯182 kcal/d (8%) in comparison to the camera-assisted dietary recalls. Foods consumed on the snacking occasions (40%) were more likely to be underreported than those consumed at main meals (P < 0.001). Beverages (37%), fruits (30%), snacks and desserts (16%) were foods most likely to be inaccurately reported. Children were satisfied with the wearable cameras, with a median score 5.0 (IQR: 5.0-5.0) for most features. Wearable cameras hold promise for improving accuracy of dietary intake assessment in children, providing rich objective information on dietary behaviours, and received high level of satisfaction and compliance of the users. Our results suggest that the accuracy of dietary recall among Chinse school-aged children could be improved by wearable camera, especially avoiding underreporting in the snacking occasions.

Development of a dietary screening questionnaire to predict excessive weight gain in pregnancy.

Excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) is a risk factor for several adverse pregnancy outcomes, including macrosomia. Diet is one of the few modifiable risk factors identified. However, most dietary assessment methods are impractical for use in maternal care. This study evaluated whether a short dietary screening questionnaire could be used as a predictor of excessive GWG in a cohort of Icelandic women. The dietary data were collected in gestational weeks 11-14, using a 40-item food frequency screening questionnaire. The dietary data were transformed into 13 predefined dietary risk factors for an inadequate diet. Stepwise backward elimination was used to identify a reduced set of factors that best predicted excessive GWG. This set of variables was then used to calculate a combined dietary risk score (range 0-5). Information regarding outcomes, GWG (n = 1,326) and birth weight (n = 1,651), was extracted from maternal hospital records. In total, 36% had excessive GWG (Icelandic criteria), and 5% of infants were macrosomic (≥4,500 g). A high dietary risk score (characterized by a nonvaried diet, nonadequate frequency of consumption of fruits/vegetables, dairy, and whole grain intake, and excessive intake of sugar/artificially sweetened beverages and dairy) was associated with a higher risk of excessive GWG. Women with a high (≥4) versus low (≤2) risk score had higher risk of excessive GWG (relative risk = 1.23, 95% confidence interval, CI [1.002, 1.50]) and higher odds of delivering a macrosomic offspring (odds ratio = 2.20, 95% CI [1.14, 4.25]). The results indicate that asking simple questions about women's dietary intake early in pregnancy could identify women who should be prioritized for further dietary counselling and support.

Ecological momentary assessment of environmental and personal factors and snack food intake in African American women.

This study examined contributions of environmental and personal factors (specifically, food availability and expense, daily hassles, self-efficacy, positive and negative affect) to within-person and between-person variations in snack food intake in 100 African American women. Participants were signaled at random five times daily for seven days to complete a survey on a study-provided smartphone. Women reported consuming snack foods at 35.2% of signals. Easier food availability accounting for one's usual level was associated with higher snack food intake. Being near outlets that predominately sell snacks (e.g., convenience stores), while accounting for one's usual proximity to them, was associated with higher snack food intake. Accounting for one's usual daily hassle level, we found that on days with more frequent daily hassles snack food intake was higher. The positive association between within-person daily hassles frequency and snack food intake was stronger when foods were easily available. Public and private policies to curb ubiquitous food availability and mobile health interventions that take into account time-varying influences on food choices and provide real-time assistance in dealing with easy food availability and coping with stressors may be beneficial in improving African American women's day to day food choices.

Development, reproducibility and validity of the food frequency questionnaire in the Poland arm of the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study.

BACKGROUND: A food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) is the most commonly used method in large epidemiological studies. The validation of an FFQ is essential for specific populations because foods are culture-dependent. The present study aimed to develop an FFQ and evaluate its validity and reproducibility in estimating the intake of nutrients in urban and rural areas of Poland. METHODS: Adult participants (n = 146) in the Polish arm of the ongoing Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study completed FFQs on two occasions, as well as four 24-h dietary recalls (DRs) during a 12-month period. Correlation coefficients (r) and de-attenuated correlation coefficients between dietary recalls and both FFQs were calculated for selected macro- and micronutrients. Agreement between the two methods was evaluated by classification into quartiles and the Bland-Altman method. Reproducibility was assessed by the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). RESULTS: The final food list contained 134 food items. For urban participants, FFQ2 generally underestimated energy, protein and fat compared to the FFQ1 and mean of DRs. In rural areas, compared to DRs, both FFQs overestimated energy and macronutrients. For both urban and rural settings, de-attenuated correlation exceeded 0.4 for almost all nutrients and the exact agreement in quartile categorisation was >66%. When assessing repeatability, ICC varied from 0.39-0.63 in an urban setting and 0.19-0.45 in a rural setting. CONCLUSIONS: This 134-item FFQ has good validity and reproducibility in relation to the reference method and can be used to rank individuals based on their macro- and micronutrient intake.

Improving quality of Food Frequency Questionnaire response in low-income Mexican American children.

The authors evaluated the validity and reliability of the Block Kids Food Frequency Questionnaire (BKFFQ) and the Block Kid Screener (BKScreener) in Mexican American children living along the Texas-Mexico border who participated in the National Institutes of Health-funded Proyecto Bienestar Laredo. The Bienestar/NEEMA health program is a school-based diabetes and obesity control program, and the Proyecto Bienestar Laredo is the translation of the Bienestar/NEEMA health program to 38 elementary schools in Laredo, Texas. Par ticipants included 2,376 eight-year-old boys (48%) and girls (52%) from two school districts in Laredo. Two Food Frequency Questionnaire (BKFFQ and BKScreener) dietary intakes were collected, and an expert panel of nutritionist assigned a classification response quality of "Good," "Questionable," and "Poor," based on playfulness (systematic or nonrandom) patterns and completion rates. In addition, both instruments were assessed for reliability (test-retest) in 138 students from a San Antonio School District. Children's height, weight, percentage body fat, reported family history of diabetes, and Texas Assessments of Knowledge and Skills in reading and mathematics scores were collected. This study showed that for Mexican American children living along the Texas-Mexico border, within the time constraints of the classroom, BKScreener yielded better data than the BKFFQ.

Adolescents in the United States can identify familiar foods at the time of consumption and when prompted with an image 14 h postprandial, but poorly estimate portions.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate adolescents' abilities to identify foods and estimate the portion size of foods consumed in order to inform development of the mobile telephone food record (mpFR). DESIGN: Data were collected from two samples of adolescents (11-18 years). Adolescents in sample 1 participated in one lunch (n 63) and fifty-five of the sixty-three adolescents (87 %) returned for breakfast the next morning. Sample 2 volunteers received all meals and snacks for a 24 h period. At mealtime, sample 1 participants were asked to write down the names of the foods. Sample 2 participants identified foods in an image of their meal 10-14 h postprandial. Adolescents in sample 2 also estimated portion sizes of their breakfast foods and snacks. RESULTS: Sample 1 identified thirty of the thirty-eight food items correctly, and of the misidentified foods all were identified within the correct major food group. For sample 2, eleven of the thirteen food items were identified correctly 100 % of the time. Half of the breakfast and snack foods had at least one portion size estimate within 10 % of the true amount using a variety of measurement descriptors. CONCLUSIONS: The results provide evidence that adolescents can correctly identify familiar foods and they can look at an image of their meal and identify the foods in the image up to 14·5 h postprandial. The results of the present study not only inform the development of the mpFR but also provide strong evidence of the use of digital images of eating occasions in research and clinical settings.

Adaptation and validation of an FFQ for 6-10-year-old children.

OBJECTIVE: To adapt and test the relative validity of an instrument measuring the usual food intake of 6-10-year-old children. DESIGN: An FFQ encompassing the preceding 6 months was adapted and compared with the average of three 24 h dietary recalls. SETTING: Private and public schools in Porto Alegre, capital city of Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state in Brazil, with 1·5 million inhabitants. SUBJECTS: Children aged 6-10 years attending grades 1-4 in private and public schools in Porto Alegre. RESULTS: Ninety-one children were studied. The FFQ overestimated all nutrients. Correlations with the values obtained by 24 h dietary recalls were mostly above 0·50. The deattenuated correlations increased for all nutrients. The κ coefficients for the adjusted nutrients varied from 0·12 (weak) to 0·34 (reasonable). Graphically, the FFQ was shown to underestimate some of the parameters and to overestimate others, with a wide CI for all nutrients. CONCLUSIONS: The FFQ does not have the required relative validity to classify the intake levels of schoolchildren, and further investigation is required to understand the sources of error.

Validating an FFQ for intake of episodically consumed foods: application to the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a method to validate an FFQ for reported intake of episodically consumed foods when the reference instrument measures short-term intake, and to apply the method in a large prospective cohort. DESIGN: The FFQ was evaluated in a sub-study of cohort participants who, in addition to the questionnaire, were asked to complete two non-consecutive 24 h dietary recalls (24HR). FFQ-reported intakes of twenty-nine food groups were analysed using a two-part measurement error model that allows for non-consumption on a given day, using 24HR as a reference instrument under the assumption that 24HR is unbiased for true intake at the individual level. SETTING: The National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study, a cohort of 567 169 participants living in the USA and aged 50-71 years at baseline in 1995. SUBJECTS: A sub-study of the cohort consisting of 2055 participants. RESULTS: Estimated correlations of true and FFQ-reported energy-adjusted intakes were 0·5 or greater for most of the twenty-nine food groups evaluated, and estimated attenuation factors (a measure of bias in estimated diet-disease associations) were 0·4 or greater for most food groups. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed methodology extends the class of foods and nutrients for which an FFQ can be evaluated in studies with short-term reference instruments. Although violations of the assumption that the 24HR is unbiased could be inflating some of the observed correlations and attenuation factors, results suggest that the FFQ is suitable for testing many, but not all, diet-disease hypotheses in a cohort of this size.

Relative validity of an FFQ for assessing dietary fluoride intakes of infants and young children living in Iowa.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relative validity of a quantitative FFQ in assessing dietary fluoride intakes using 3 d food and beverage diaries for reference. DESIGN: Parents were asked to complete questionnaires for the preceding week and diaries for 3 d for their children. Fluoride intakes were estimated from 'selected' foods and beverages for questionnaires and from 'all foods and beverages' for diaries. Data collected at 6, 9, 12, 16, 20, 24, 36, 48 and 60 months were analysed cross-sectionally. SETTING: A 3 d food and beverage diary and an FFQ collected through mail from children living in the state of Iowa. SUBJECTS: Children from the Iowa Fluoride Study whose parents completed both an FFQ and a 3 d food and beverage diary at each analysed time point. RESULTS: Correlations between daily mean dietary fluoride intake estimated from questionnaires and diaries range from 0·90 to 0·65. CONCLUSIONS: A quantitative FFQ can provide relative estimates of dietary fluoride intake.

Comparison of relative validity of food group intakes estimated by comprehensive and brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaires against 16 d dietary records in Japanese adults.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the relative validity of food group intakes derived from a comprehensive self-administered diet history questionnaire (DHQ) and a brief-type DHQ (BDHQ) developed for the assessment of Japanese diets during the previous month using semi-weighed dietary records (DR) as a reference method. DESIGN: Between November 2002 and September 2003, a 4 d DR (covering four non-consecutive days), a DHQ (150-item semi-quantitative questionnaire) and a BDHQ (fifty-eight-item fixed-portion-type questionnaire) were completed four times (once per season) at 3-month intervals. SETTING: Three areas in Japan: Osaka, Nagano and Tottori. SUBJECTS: Ninety-two Japanese women aged 31-69 years and ninety-two Japanese men aged 32-76 years. RESULTS: Median food group intakes were estimated well for approximately half of the food groups. No statistically significant differences were noted between a 16 d DR and the first DHQ (DHQ1) or between the DR and the first BDHQ (BDHQ1) in fifteen (44 %) and fifteen (52 %) food items for women and in fourteen (41 %) and sixteen (55 %) food items for men, respectively, indicating that both questionnaires estimated median values reasonably well. Median Spearman's correlation coefficients with the DR were 0·43 (range: -0·09 to 0·77) for DHQ1 and 0·44 (range: 0·14 to 0·82) for BDHQ1 in women, with respective values of 0·44 (range: 0·08 to 0·87) and 0·48 (range: 0·22 to 0·83) in men, indicating reasonable ranking ability. Similar results were observed for mean values of the four DHQ and BDHQ. CONCLUSIONS: In terms of food intake estimates, both the DHQ and the BDHQ showed reasonable validity.

Relative validity and reproducibility of a food frequency questionnaire to evaluate food group intakes among Jordanian children and adolescents.

INTRODUCTION: Introduction: studies of the impact of diet on the prevention and occurrence of diseases in all life stages require a reliable and valid dietary assessment tool for assessing dietary intake. Objectives: this study aimed to develop and evaluate the relative validity and reproducibility of a culturally sensitive quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) to assess food group intake among Jordanian children and adolescents. Methods: the validation study was carried out on 136 children and adolescents aged between 6 and 18 years who enrolled from selected public and private schools. Fifty of these children and adolescents participated in the reproducibility phase. Food group intake from a quantitative FFQ was compared with food group intake from 24-hour dietary recalls (24h-DRs). Four 24-HRs were collected weekly for one month. Results: intraclass correlation coefficients between the two FFQs ranged from 0.18 for nuts to 0.98 for tea. De-attenuated and energy-adjusted correlations ranged from 0.08 for nuts to 0.95 for vegetable oils. On average, 46.6 % and 43.6 % of participants were ranked by the FFQ-1 and the 24h-DRs into the same quartile based on their crude and energy-adjusted food group intake, respectively. Bland-Altman plots showed a satisfactory agreement between the two methods for milk and milk products and vegetables. Conclusions: the findings of this study suggested that the developed FFQ has excellent reproducibility and good relative validity for most food groups.

INTRODUCCIÓN: Introducción: los estudios sobre el impacto de la dieta en la prevención y aparición de enfermedades en todas las etapas de la vida requieren una herramienta de evaluación dietética confiable y válida para evaluar la ingesta dietética. Objetivos: este estudio tuvo como objetivo desarrollar y evaluar la validez relativa y la reproducibilidad de un cuestionario cuantitativo de frecuencia alimentaria (CFC) culturalmente sensible para evaluar la ingesta de grupos de alimentos entre niños y adolescentes jordanos. Métodos: el estudio de validación se realizó en 136 niños y adolescentes de entre 6 y 18 años matriculados en escuelas públicas y privadas seleccionadas. Cincuenta de estos niños y adolescentes participaron en la fase de reproducibilidad. La ingesta del grupo de alimentos de un CFC cuantitativo se comparó con la ingesta del grupo de alimentos de los recordatorios dietéticos de 24 horas. Se recogieron cuatro recordatorios de 024 horas semanales durante un mes. Resultados: los coeficientes de correlación intraclase entre los dos CFC variaron de 0,18 para las nueces a 0,98 para el té. Las correlaciones atenuadas y ajustadas por energía variaron de 0,08 para las nueces a 0,95 para los aceites vegetales. En promedio, el 46,6 % y el 43,6 % de los participantes fueron clasificados por el CFC-1 y el 24h-DR en el mismo cuartil en función de la ingesta de grupo de alimentos crudos y ajustados por energía, respectivamente. Los gráficos de Bland-Altman mostraron una concordancia satisfactoria entre los dos métodos para la leche y los productos lácteos y las hortalizas. Conclusiones: los hallazgos de este estudio sugirieron que el CFC desarrollado tiene una excelente reproducibilidad y una buena validez relativa para la mayoría de los grupos de alimentos.

Measuring Skin Carotenoids Using Reflection Spectroscopy in a Low-Income School Setting.

Dietary behavior change is difficult to accurately measure in a low-income youth population. Objective tools to measure fruit and vegetable consumption without relying on self-report present the opportunity to do this with less respondent burden and bias. A promising tool for quantifying fruit and vegetable consumption via proxy is skin carotenoids as measured by reflection spectroscopy through a device called the Veggie Meter®. To assess whether the Veggie Meter® is able to detect changes in skin carotenoids as a proxy for fruit and vegetable consumption in a low-income school setting, skin carotenoid measurements were collected at three time points, along with student level demographics, anthropometric measurements, and nutrition knowledge. A secondary goal of this study was to refine the protocol to be used based on researcher observations. Repeated measures analysis of variance with Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons indicate that there was a significant difference in VM scores over the course of the study (F(2, 68) = 6.63, p = 0.002), with an increase in skin carotenoids from Fall 2018 to Spring 2019 (p = 0.005). This increase was sustained over the summer months when measured in Fall 2019. Changes to the protocol included the addition of a hand cleaning step and using the non-dominant ring finger for data collection. With these refinements, the results demonstrate that the Veggie Meter® is usable as a non-invasive tool for measuring fruit and vegetable consumption in a population that is traditionally difficult to assess.

Relative validity and reproducibility of a food frequency questionnaire designed for French adults.

OBJECTIVES/AIMS: We tested the reproducibility and relative validity of a French self-administered food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) against 24-hour dietary records (DRs). METHODS: We selected 140 participants from the SU.VI.MAX study. They filled in the FFQ twice at 1-year intervals and completed monthly 24-hour DR during that year. The number of food items in the FFQ was 240. RESULTS: Reproducibility was high. Medians of Pearson coefficients were 0.70 and 0.65 for nutrients in men and women, respectively. Medians of intraclass correlation coefficients for food were 0.62 in men and 0.65 in women. For nutrients, crude Pearson correlation coefficients for relative validity ranged from 0.28 to 0.67 in men and from 0.25 to 0.55 in women. The Spearman coefficient for alcohol was 0.78 in both genders. For food, the medians of the Spearman coefficient were 0.49 and 0.45 for men and women, respectively. Complete disagreement between the FFQ and 24-hour DRs for ranking subjects according to food consumption was low (about 4%), except for rarely consumed food groups, that is nuts, legumes and offal. Calibration coefficients were estimated by linear regression. All coefficients were lower than one. CONCLUSIONS: Acceptable reproducibility and relative validity were observed in a FFQ designed for French adults.

[A longitudinal study on dietary habits and the primary socialization of these habits in young children]. / Een longitudinale studie rond voedingsgewoontes en de primaire socialisatie van voedingsgewoontes bij jonge kinderen.

The Family Influences on Food Intake study (FIFI), is a longitudinal study on dietary habits of young children and the primary socialization of these habits during childhood and during the transition into adolescence. Special attention is paid to the development, validation and feasibility of instruments measuring as well dependent as independent variables useful for large scale surveys. Parents of preschool children from the first year (+/-3 years of age) of 56 school departments were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire biennially. Data of 862 children was available for the first measurement (2008). A web based dietary record tool was developed to investigate the relative validity of the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) used in the study. Two hundred and seventeen parents completed the online tool for three non-consecutive days. The feasibility of the online data collection is investigated and the reported intake is compared with the FFQ estimates. Associations between nutritional knowledge and attitudes of the children's mothers and dietary patterns of the children (FFQ) are investigated as well as relations between parent and child characteristics and fruit and vegetable intake. Additionally, 70 teachers completed a questionnaire on their attitudes towards the school food policy. The teachers' responses are compared with responses of parents from a previous study. Finally, the feasibility of an animated web based fruit and vegetables preferences tool, to be used in the follow up surveys, has been investigated in 4-6 years old (n=139 for fruit and n=135 for vegetables). The findings are summarized in the present paper.

Influence of dietary intake and decision-making during pregnancy on birth outcomes.

AIM: This study aimed to examine dietary intake and decision-making in a cohort of pregnant South-East Queensland women to determine compliance with dietary guidelines and the relationships between dietary intake, decision-making and birth outcomes. METHODS: Pregnant women attending maternity services at participating hospitals reported food frequency and motivations using the Maternal Outcomes and Nutrition Tool, a novel digital instrument. Birth outcomes were sourced from hospital records. A cross-sectional cohort design was used to examine the data. RESULTS: Analysis demonstrated suboptimal intake of core food groups; meat and alternatives (median [IQR]) (2.6 [2.0-3.4] serves/day) and grains (3.1 [2.1-4.1]) fell below recommendations; fruit (3.8 [2.5-5.3]) and discretionary foods (3.1 [2.1-4.4]) exceeded them. Hypertensive disorders demonstrated a negative linear relationship with vegetable intake (P = .017). Cultural diversity was significantly associated with decreased birthweight (P = .022) but increased intake of meat and alternatives (3.1 vs 2.6, P < .001) compared to Caucasian women; median intake of meat and alternatives was lower in women who reported smoking in the examined time frame. Smokers were less likely to declare health motives for food selection than non-smokers; smoking and health were inversely associated with increasing maternal age. Food choice was primarily sensory-driven. CONCLUSIONS: This cohort demonstrated poor adherence to dietary guidelines. Culturally and linguistically diverse women and smokers exhibit dietary behaviours which may contribute to suboptimal birth outcomes; targeted nutrition counselling may improve outcomes in these women. These findings highlight the need for transdisciplinary maternity care and provide a foundation for further research aimed at optimising nutrition-related birth outcomes in at-risk groups.

Use of electronic visual recording to aid assessment of dietary intake of Australian Aboriginal children living in remote communities.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility of using electronic visual recording in combination with food records to evaluate dietary intake in Aboriginal infants and children. METHODS: All foods and drinks consumed by the child over four consecutive days were recorded in daily food records and pictures or videos. Feasibility was assessed by determining i) proportion of meals reported to be consumed; ii) cost of data collection; iii) day-to-day variation in energy intake and; iv) acceptability of the method. RESULTS: Dietary intake data was collected from three girls and five boys aged 11 months to eight years, five over four days and three during one day, at a cost of $3,300 per child. One-third of the 89 meals reported to be consumed through the food records were electronically recorded. Most photographs were taken in the first two days with the number of meals electronically recorded decreasing each day over the four-day period. There was a large day-to-day variation in energy intake. CONCLUSIONS: Use of electronic recording to aid individual usual dietary intake data collection was feasible. Collection periods spread over 1-2 weeks may be more appropriate due to the large variance in day-to-day dietary intake.

Dietary quality varies according to data collection instrument: a comparison between a food frequency questionnaire and 24-hour recall.

The objective of this study was to assess the agreement between the Brazilian Healthy Eating Index - Revised (BHEI-R), estimated by a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and multiple 24-hour recalls (24h-R). The Wilcoxon paired test, partial correlations (PC), intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and Bland-Altman method were used. The total BHEI-R scores and its components ("total fruits", "whole fruits", "total vegetables", "integral cereals", "saturated fat", "sodium", and "energy intake derived from solid fat, added sugar, and alcoholic beverages") were statistically different, with the ICC and PC indicating poor concordance and correlation. The mean concordance estimated for the total BHEI-R and its components varied from 68% for "integral cereals" to 147% for "whole fruits". The suitable concordance limits were violated for most of the components of the BHEI-R. Poor concordance was observed between the BHEI-R estimated by the FFQ and by multiple 24h-R, which indicated a strong reliability of the BHEI-R on the instrument used to collect information on food consumption.