Relative Validity of Micronutrient and Fiber Intake Assessed With Two New Interactive Meal- and Web-Based Food Frequency Questionnaires

Abstract

BackgroundThe meal- and Web-based food frequency questionnaires, Meal-Q and MiniMeal-Q, were developed for cost-efficient assessment of dietary intake in epidemiological studies.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to evaluate the relative validity of micronutrient and fiber intake assessed with Meal-Q and MiniMeal-Q. The reproducibility of Meal-Q was also evaluated.MethodsA total of 163 volunteer men and women aged between 20 and 63 years were recruited from Stockholm County, Sweden. Assessment of micronutrient and fiber intake with the 174-item Meal-Q was compared to a Web-based 7-day weighed food record (WFR). Two administered Meal-Q questionnaires were compared for reproducibility. The 126-item MiniMeal-Q, developed after the validation study, was evaluated in a simulated validation by using truncated Meal-Q data.ResultsThe study population consisted of approximately 80% women (129/163) with a mean age of 33 years (SD 12) who were highly educated (130/163, 80% with >12 years of education) on average. Cross-classification of quartiles with the WFR placed 69% to 90% in the same/adjacent quartile for Meal-Q and 67% to 89% for MiniMeal-Q. Bland-Altman plots with the WFR and the questionnaires showed large variances and a trend of increasing underestimation with increasing intakes. Deattenuated and energy-adjusted Spearman rank correlations between the questionnaires and the WFR were in the range ρ=.25-.69, excluding sodium that was not statistically significant. Cross-classifications of quartiles of the 2 Meal-Q administrations placed 86% to 97% in the same/adjacent quartile. Intraclass correlation coefficients for energy-adjusted intakes were in the range of .50-.76.ConclusionsWith the exception of sodium, this validation study demonstrates Meal-Q and MiniMeal-Q to be useful methods for ranking micronutrient and fiber intake in epidemiological studies with Web-based data collection.

Is a diet low in greenhouse gas emissions a nutritious diet? – Analyses of self-selected diets in the LifeGene study

“…Moreover, the daily emissions of CO 2 e was comparable to other studies based on individually assessed dietary intake using FFQ [6–8]. The dietary assessment method that was used, Meal-Q, was developed and validated by us for the LifeGene study [18, 19], and showed strong validity and reproducibility [21]. A limited number of studies have analyzed CO 2 e from self-selected diets assessed in surveys or cohort studies [6–9], but to our knowledge, this is the first study based on a Swedish population.…”

“…Diet was assessed using the interactive web-and meal based FFQ called Meal-Q, described in detail elsewhere [18, 19]. Meal-Q assesses habitual dietary intake during the previous months and includes 102–174 food items, dishes, and beverages, depending on the number of follow-up questions, as well as questions about supplement use, meal patterns, and eating behavior.…”

“…A program tailored for Meal-Q called NutriCalc was used to link dietary data to the national food composition table from the Swedish National Food Agency [20] to generate the daily intake of energy and nutrient per person. Meal-Q has been validated using 7-day weighed food records with regards to nutrients and energy as well as doubly labeled water with regards to energy, demonstrating good validity and reproducibility [18, 19]. …”

Poor Dietary Quality Is Associated with Low Adherence to Gestational Weight Gain Recommendations among Women in Sweden

“…In the last trimester of pregnancy, all women were asked to answer an online semi-quantitative FFQ [20,21] that provided intake data on food levels, as well as macro-and micronutrient levels. The questionnaire has been validated among non-pregnant adults for macro-and micronutrients against 7-day food records and doubly-labelled water.…”

Carotenoids and alkylresorcinols as objective biomarkers of diet quality when assessing the validity of a web-based food record tool and a food frequency questionnaire in a middle-aged population

“…Recently, two innovative dietary assessment tools for use in large-scale studies were developed; the detailed 4-day food record tool called the Riksmaten method [26], and the more rapid food frequency questionnaire called MiniMeal-Q [27,28]. The aim of this study was to use carotenoids as biomarkers of fruit and vegetable intake and alkylresorcinols as biomarkers of whole grain wheat and rye intake, when examining and comparing the ability of the two self-reported methods to capture habitual dietary intake.…”