Background: A self-administered quantitative food frequency questionnaire (ax) was developed for a population-based cohort study on cancer in Takayama, Japan.Methods: The ax was tested among 58 male and 59 female volunteers. Average daily nutrient intakes for the previous year calculated from the ax were compared with those from 3-day food records and four 24-h recalls. The ax was also validated among 37 volunteers by comparing the nutrient intakes calculated from the ax with 12 1-day food records during a year. We also calculated the intra-class correlation coefficients for various nutrients between the ax and the second ax administered by the same volunteers 1 year after the first survey.Results: Pearson correlation coefficients between total energy from the ax and 3-day records were 0.38 for men and 0.25 for women and those between the ax and 24-h recalls were 0.19 and -0.02 for men and women, respectively. Correlations between the several nutrients from the ax and 3-day records ranged from 0.2 to 0.5 for both men and women. These correlations after energy adjustment ranged from 0.2 to 0.6 for men and from 0.1 to 0.7 for women. In general, the correlations for various nutrients between the ax and 12 1-day records were higher than those described above. The intra-class correlation coefficients ranged from 0.46 to 0.78 in men and from 0.36 to 0.67, except for vitamin C in women. When the information on portion size was excluded, almost all of the above indices showed somewhat lower figures.Conclusion: These results suggest that our food frequency questionnaire with portion size information can be used to estimate nutrient intakes of each individual.

This simple food checklist was useful in collecting data on egg, milk, and fruit consumption. Assessing intake frequency of vegetables, meat or fish with the FBC may be useful in screening high- or low-intake individuals.

and SHIMIZU, H. Frequent Hard Physical Activity Lowered Serum /3-Carotene Level in a Population Study of a Rural City of Japan. Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 1995, 176 (3), 131-135 To determine the effect of physical activity on serum fl-carotene, we analyzed data about life styles including 3-day food records and blood samples collected from 57 men and 74 women in a rural city of Japan. Physical activity was asked as mean frequency of hard physical activities per week last year. A declining trend in serum /3-carotene was observed with increasing frequency of hard physical activities in men. In multiple regression analyses, the frequency of hard physical activities showed a negative partial correlation coefficient (r= -0.38, p=0.007) with serum f3-carotene in men when controlled by age, BMI (body mass index), dietary factors (carotene intake, alcohol consumption and vitamin supplements use), smoking status, serum total cholesterol and serum triglycerides. These results suggest that frequent hard physical activity decreases serum f3-carotene especially in men.

We hypothesized that validity of semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire would be affected by food diversity (variety of foods consumed), because greater food diversity may be related to greater within-individual variation of nutrient intake, which can attenuate the correlation coefficient measuring validity of the questionnaire. We obtained 12 one-day diet records over one year and responses to a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire from 37 subjects. The food diversity score for each subject was determined by the total number of different foods consumed during the 12 days for the diet records, and the subjects were divided into two groups according to the score. The within-individual variances were similar in those with higher and lower food diversity scores. We never observed a significantly lower correlation coefficient for any nutrient in those with higher food diversity scores. The observed and corrected correlations for most of the micronutrients were higher in those with higher food diversity scores, and the differences were statistically significant for crude fiber, vitamin C, iron, and potassium. The validity of the semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire did not appear to be lowered greatly by greater food diversity.J Epidemiol, 1998 ; 8 : 297-301.semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire, diet record, within-individual variation, betweenindividual variation, validityNumerous studies have been devoted to the methods of measuring an individuals' usual dietary intake1-4). Currently, semiquantitative food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) are commonly used to obtain estimates of individuals' dietary intake and to relate diet to the development of various diseases. There is no gold standard for directly assessing the validity of dietary assessment methods. However, the validity of the semiquantitative FFQs is often determined by comparing data derived from them with those obtained from diet records (DRs) or 24-hour recalls 5). Because of day-to-day variation in an individual's food intake, memory lapses, misinterpretation, and restriction by a fixed list of foods, it is difficult to assess a usual diet accurately using a semiquantitative FFQ. One of the characteristics of diet among the Japanese in the present day may be food diversity. We hypothesized that a more varied diet should be related to a low validity of semiquantitative FFQ. It is possible that a more varied diet is related to a large within-individual variation in nutrient intake.The ratio of the within-individual to between-individual variance is used as an index of bias and power loss in etiological studies of disease S). A large ratio reduces the strength of any association. A large within-individual variation can distort the correlation coefficient.Our hypothesis implies that food diversity makes it difficult to develop a semiquantitative FFQ with high validity to assess the diet among the Japanese. To examine our hypothesis, we analyzed data from 12 one-day DRs over one year and responses to a semiquantitative FFQ.

Fig. 1 Movements of gold beads after the gene gun inoculation. Plasmid DNA affixed to 1.0-m-diameter gold particles was inoculated subcutaneously three times to anesthetized BALB/c mice through depilated abdominal skin with a Helios gene gun at a helium discharge pressure of 400 psi and the localization of DNA-coated gold particles in cells or tissues was determined by regular hematoxylin-eosin staining.