This study aimed to develop and evaluate the validity of a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for rural Rwandans. Since our FFQ was developed to assess malnutrition, it measured energy, protein, vitamin A, and iron intakes only. We collected 260 weighed food records (WFRs) from a total of 162 Rwandans. Based on the WFR data, we developed a tentative FFQ and examined the food list by percent contribution to energy and nutrient intakes. To assess the validity, nutrient intakes estimated from the FFQ were compared with those calculated from three-day WFRs by correlation coefficient and cross-classification for 17 adults. Cumulative contributions of the 18-item FFQ to the total intakes of energy and nutrients reached nearly 100%. Crude and energy-adjusted correlation coefficients ranged from −0.09 (vitamin A) to 0.58 (protein) and from −0.19 (vitamin A) to 0.68 (iron), respectively. About 50%–60% of the participants were classified into the same tertile. Our FFQ provided acceptable validity for energy and iron intakes and could rank Rwandan adults in eastern rural area correctly according to their energy and iron intakes.

This study aimed to examine the validity of the Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women of Reproductive Age (MDD-W), which assesses the micronutrient adequacy of the participants by counting the number of food groups they consumed, in rural Rwanda. We used 54 one-day weighed food records collected from 41 women to calculate Spearman s rank-order correlation coefficient between references of micronutrient adequacy and the MDD-W. Since only a few micronutrients references had a significant correlation with MDD-W scores (r 0.294 to 0.392), we concluded the MDD-W could not work well in our study sites. That was due to these sites food consumption patterns; while micronutrient-dense foods such as meat and dark green leafy vegetables were eaten less (average daily intake was 25.8g and 46.2g, respectively) and they did not practically contribute to micronutrient supply, energy-dense foods such as starchy staple foods were consumed in a large amount (600.5g per day) and supplied a large part of micronutrient intake. Moreover, it was observed that references of many micronutrients increased in proportion to starchy staple foods consumption (r 0.634). The MDD-W was not suitable for micronutrient assessment in our study sites conditions and quantity information should be taken into consideration where food variety is limited. (203 words / about 200 words)

No abstract

No abstract