Development and Validation of a Semiquantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire to Assess Dietary Intake in 40–65-Year-Old Mexican Women

Abstract

Background and Aims: Food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) have been widely used in epidemiologic studies since 1990s, but instruments need to be validated. The aim of this work was to create and assess the validity and reproducibility of an interview administered FFQ to be used in a Mexican women's bone health cohort study, located in Monterrey city, Mexico. Methods: Validation of FFQ formed by 11 food groups and 136 food and beverage items was performed on 40-65-year-old Mexican women (n = 200) by applying 2 FFQ (test method) and six 24-h dietary recalls (24hR, reference method; 1 per season on weekdays and 2 on weekends). Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated of both logs, transformed intakes and energy-adjusted nutrient intakes based on the residual method, and intraclass correlation coefficients were calculated. Results: The relative validity of FFQ against the average of six 24hR for intakes of energy, macronutrients, cholesterol, water, vitamins and minerals required for bone metabolism such as vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus were obtained. Pearson coefficients of correlation show significance (p < 0.05) for the va-lidity, 0.244-0.820 and 0.258-0.794, for energy-unadjusted and adjusted data, respectively. Reproducibility coefficients range 0.186-0.810 for energy-unadjusted data and 0.174-0.597 for energy-adjusted data. Most nutrients showed lower than 5% of misclassification. Conclusion: The designed 136-item FFQ shows acceptable validity and reproducibility, and it is useful to be applied on 40-65-year-old Mexican women for the estimation of nutrient intakes in epidemiological studies.

A meta-analysis of the reproducibility of food frequency questionnaires in nutritional epidemiological studies

“…An overview of the retrieved studies assessing the reproducibility of FFQs is presented in Table 1 (detail information shown in Supplemental Table 1 ). Of the 123 articles included [ 4 , 10 – 13 , 15 – 18 , 20 , 21 , 23 – 134 ], two articles analyzed differences in different age groups [ 50 , 113 ], and five articles assessed the differences in reproducibility according to time intervals between repeated FFQs [ 39 , 91 , 96 , 113 , 134 ]. The extracted information on characteristics of the included studies is summarized in Table 1 (detail information shown in Supplemental Table 1 ).…”

“…The reproducibility of another FFQ of 157 items with 3-month interval used in the Food4Me study (a randomized controlled trial across seven European countries) has been reported to range from 0.62 to 0.89 [ 17 ]. Then, a repeatability study of an interview administered FFQ of 135 items in the Mexican Women’s Bone Health Cohort Study found that the reproducibility coefficients range from 0.186 to 0.810 for energy-unadjusted data and 0.174 to 0.597 for energy-adjusted data [ 18 ]. However, the correlation coefficients of different nutrients evaluated in different studies are different, and a widely accepted reference value for the reproducibility of FFQs is currently lacking.…”

Nutritional Risk Factors Associated with Vasomotor Symptoms in Women Aged 40–65 Years

“…Total fat intake was assessed by a validated Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) [22]. Women were asked to report the frequency and measurements of their intake of 136 items, including foods and beverages.…”

Construcción de un Cuestionario de Frecuencia de Consumo de Alimentos para Adultos Ecuatorianos, estudio transversal.

“…Ciertamente la memoria y comprensión están disminuidas en cuestionarios con más de 150 ítems alimentarios 26 . La sobreestimación de la ingesta de ciertos alimentos y nutrientes y la subestimación de otros por CFCA auto-administrado, es una de sus limitaciones habituales incluso después de haber sido validado 27 . Proporcionar una estimación confiable de la ingesta dietética es una de las tareas más desafiantes en epidemiología nutricional, a pesar de la estimación de la ingesta dietética durante un largo período.…”