Validation of a questionnaire to assess dietary habits among 5–13‐year old school children of farmers and anthroposophic families

Abstract

Objective. To evaluate dietary habits among 5-13-year old school children of farmers, anthroposophic families and controls and to evaluate the validity of a food questionnaire as part of a lifestyle questionnaire of the PARSIFAL-study. Methods. Food questionnaires were completed by the parents of the children. Validity was assessed with 24-h recalls performed as telephone interviews with a parent accompanied by the child. Results. Dietary habits were assessed among 14 901 children. Farm children consumed most farm milk, dairy products made from farm milk and meat. Children from anthroposophic families consumed most fruits and vegetables, whole grain products and olive oil and least meat and margarine. Among 493 participants included in the validation study, validity of the food items studied was determined to be moderate-to-adequate. Conclusions. Dietary habits differ substantially among children of farmers and children from anthroposophic families. Validity of the diet questionnaire should be sufficiently accurate for most foods when used in diet-disease analyses. Validity was generally higher among frequently consumed foods and among food whose consumption does not vary by season.

I did eat my vegetables. Agreement between parent and child food intake diaries

“…No portion size was asked for given the known challenges of accurate reporting and that assessing portion size does not necessarily increase validity ( 5 ) . Consistent with studies which suggest that children younger than 8 years of age face difficulties in estimating portions, and studies that found weak to moderate correlations when portions were assessed with children younger than 12 years of age ( 5 , 13 , 19 , 20 ) , our study did not measure portion sizes.…”

Reliability and Validity of Child/Adolescent Food Frequency Questionnaires That Assess Foods and/or Food Groups

“…A total of 11 studies examined both reliability and validity. Ordered by publication year, Table 2 (26,36,42), France (29), Austria (34), Germany (34), the Netherlands (43), Sweden (34), Switzerland (34), Denmark (38), Iceland (38), Norway (38), Portugal (38), and Spain (38). Ten articles were from the United States (28,(30)(31)(32)(33)35,39,40,44,45).…”

“…In 12 publications the FFQs assessed intake of specific types of foods: ''beverages'' (33), ''beverages and fast foods'' (28,32), ''beverages and snacks'' (31), ''fruits and vegetables'' (25,27,43), ''fruit, vegetables, and juice'' (30,28,39), ''high fat/calories, fruit, vegetables, and grains'' (35), and ''sugary snacks'' (37). The remaining 9 studies focused on ''all aspects'' of diet (26,29,34,36,(40)(41)(42)44,45). The size of the FFQs varied from 6-152 items ((36,37), respectively).…”

“…The size of the FFQs varied from 6-152 items ((36,37), respectively). Seven studies directly assessed portion size (14,15,22,25,27,32,34), 2 included partial portion size information (eg, asked about portion sizes of some items on the questionnaire) (29,32), and 12 did not ask participants about portion size (27,28,30,31,34,35,37,(39)(40)(41)(42)44).…”

Relative validity and reproducibility of a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire to assess fruit and vegetable consumption in school-aged children

“…The five food categories in the FFQ results are defined according to the WHO definition of fruit and vegetables ( 15 ). However, legumes were added to three food categories to allow comparison with other fruit and vegetable FFQs ( 42 , 43 , 49 , 50 ).…”