Objective: Low-and middle-income countries are experiencing rises in the prevalence of adult obesity. Whether these increases disproportionately affect vulnerable subpopulations is unclear because most previous investigations were not nationally representative, were limited to women, or relied on self-reported anthropometric data which are subject to bias. The aim of the present study was to assess changes in the prevalence of obesity from 2005 to 2010 in Colombian adults; overall and by levels of sociodemographic characteristics. ?7 %) among the poorest and 0?3 % (95 % CI 21?6, 2?2 %) in the wealthiest (P, test for interaction 5 0?007), after adjustment. Obesity rates also increased faster in older than younger people (P, test for interaction 5 0?01), among people from urban compared with non-urban areas (P, test for interaction 5 0?06) and in adults living in the Atlantic region compared with others. Conclusions: Adult obesity prevalence has increased in Colombia and its burden is shifting towards the poor and urban populations. Keywords Obesity Prevalence difference Representative survey Colombia AdultsThe global prevalence of obesity has been on the rise during the past couple of decades, especially in developing countries . These increases have been steeper in Latin America, ranging from 0?6 to 1?4 kg/m 2 per decade (4) . In parallel with this shift in the BMI distribution, global obesity prevalence has doubled and by 2008 there were an estimated 502 million obese adults in the world, including 9?8 % of men and 13?8 % of women (4) . These changes are typically followed by rises in obesity-related chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes and CVD, which may have devastating effects on the economies and health systems of developing countries (5)(6)(7) .

Women had higher prevalence of all risk factors with the exception of smoking and low-HDL. Reduction in cholesterol levels, blood pressure and obesity is a priority to control the ongoing epidemic of cardiovascular diseases in this population.

Objective: To develop a food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) useful for ranking of nutrient intakes. Design: Subjects consuming their regular diet completed 7 days of weighed intake registry (7-WIR). Foods for the FFQ were selected by stepwise multiple regression. The FFQ was then completed for each subject using data on individual food consumption from the 7-WIR. The correlation and agreement between the extrapolated FFQ and the 7-WIR data were assessed using Spearman's rank correlation coefficients (r S ) and Bland and Altman's limits of agreement (LOA). Setting: Bucaramanga, Colombia. Subjects: We studied 97 randomly selected 20 -40-year-old subjects. Results: Sixty foods were selected for the FFQ. The 7-WIR and the extrapolated FFQ intake estimates correlated well. r S was 0.58 for energy, 0.53 for carbohydrate, 0.50 for total fat, and 0.48 for protein. For micronutrients, r S varied from 0.46 (manganese) to 0.71 (vitamin B 12 ). FFQ average intake estimates were 83%, 80%, 86.2% and 86.4% of 7-WIR estimates for energy, carbohydrate, total fat and protein, respectively. LOA for these nutrients ranged between 45% and 165%. FFQ micronutrient intakes were on average 96% (median) of those from the 7-WIR, and the median lower and upper LOA were 50% and 203%. However, there was no indication that the degree of agreement varied with the level of intake. Conclusions: According to our simulated validation, this FFQ may be useful to rank subjects by nutrient intake. Its validity against standard independent measurements and its applicability to other subsets of the Colombian population should be carefully considered. Keywords Nutritional assessment Food-frequency questionnaire Weighed food registry ColombiaDietary factors have a large impact on chronic disease morbidity and mortality 1. There are few studies on the relationship between nutritional intake and the risk of chronic diseases in developing countries. In Colombia, as in other countries 2 , this is due mainly to the lack of valid, low-cost dietary assessment methods amenable for studies in large populations. Use of dietary tools developed in other populations is not a proper alternative, since it is well known that methods validated in one population are not necessarily accurate in other groups, even from the same country, unless they are developed specifically for this purpose 3 . Moreover, the use of methods with low validity seriously attenuates the associations between nutritional intake and disease in epidemiological studies, a problem known as regression dilution 4 .Although different methods can be used to evaluate individuals' nutritional intake in epidemiological studies, food-frequency questionnaires (FFQs) have been the tool used most frequently during past decades, because they are easy to apply in large populations and have relatively low cost5 . An FFQ for a specific population is usually developed by modifying existing FFQs validated in a related population. Such an approach was not feasible for our population of interest, since no FFQ ha...

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Objective: To determine the relative validity and reproducibility of two alcohol intake frequency questionnaires (AFQ-A; AFQ-B), designed to classify subjects according to their alcohol intake level, in Bucaramanga, Colombia. Method: One hundred and nine randomly selected subjects, aged between 20 and 60 years, completed three 30-day semi-quantitative alcohol intake records (30-DR). The AFQs were applied three months after the last 30-DR. AFQ-A contained 53 items; AFQ-B contained five items, with the alcoholic drinks for AFQ-B selected by Max_r. The correlation and agreement between alcohol intake assessed with the AFQs and the 30-DR were obtained using Pearson's correlation coefficient (r), Lin's concordance correlation coefficient (r C ), Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (r S ), Bland and Altman's limits of agreement (LOA) and Cohen's weighted kappa statistic (K w ). Results: The reproducibility of the 30-DR was poor; r S ranged from 0.33 to 0.41. The reproducibility of the AFQs was higher, with r S between 0.50 and 0.73. The agreement (K w ) of the 30-DR and the AFQs was 0.40. The lower and upper LOA were between 2 56.4% and 211.0%. The AFQs and 30-DR were well correlated. Assessment of relative validity between the two methods yielded r values for alcohol between 0.52 and 0.60, which reduced to 0.20-0.29 after energy adjustment. Conclusions: These AFQs may be useful to rank subjects according to their alcohol intake. The AFQ-B is easy and quick to apply, and is also highly cost-effective. Keywords Alcohol consumption Food-frequency questionnaire Max_r ColombiaDuring the last 50 years, Colombia -like many other countries of the world -has experienced demographic and epidemiological transitions. The changes attributed to these transitions include ageing of the population, changed dietary habits to high intakes of foods rich in fats, sugar and salt, and increased alcohol consumption 1 -3 . The prevalence of alcohol consumption has increased in Colombia during the last 15 years, reaching 86% among the population older than 12 years in 1997, and also the age at which consumption begins has decreased to 9 years old 4 -6 . Despite the need to quantify alcohol intake and establish whether or not it is related to dietary habits, chronic diseases, trauma and social or mental diseases, there are no valid instruments available for this purpose in Colombia.Even when alcohol is not a nutrient, methods used in the study of diet can be applied in the quantification of alcohol consumption 7 . The research on dietary intake and its relationship with chronic diseases has been carried out with simplified questionnaires that ask about the dietary pattern before the disease. Alcohol frequency questionnaires (AFQs) have been the most useful tool in epidemiological research 7 -9 , not only for their low cost but also because they result in good classification of subjects based on their intake. Moreover, the level of intake can be measured with more validity 10 . However, alcohol consumption is a difficult-to-m...