Comparison of an Australian food-frequency questionnaire with diet records: implications for nutrition surveillance

Abstract

Objectives: To compare a widely used Australian food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) with diet records and consider the results in relation to its use in nutrition surveillance. Design: Inter-method reliability study. Setting: A randomised trial in subjects with past asbestos exposure. Subjects: Seventy-two adults living in Western Australia. Methods: A semi-quantitative FFQ developed by the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation in South Australia was administered after the completion of four 7-day diet records (DRs). Results: Mean agreement between methods was not significantly different from 100% for many nutrients, but the limits of agreement indicated that, at the individual level, the FFQ over-or underestimated the DR by at least 50%. Mean agreement between methods decreased significantly with increasing intakes for the majority of nutrients. Pearson's correlation coefficients were less informative indicators of agreement compared with the limits of agreement. Conclusions: These results indicate poor agreement between the FFQ and DR when estimating absolute intakes. Therefore, comparing intakes collected using this FFQ with specific cut-off points such as Recommended Dietary Intakes for nutrition surveillance may lead to seriously flawed conclusions about population intakes.

Comparative analysis of two FFQ

“…However, it is a booklet that takes 45 min to complete and has to be manually coded before the manual data entry, increasing both the respondent burden and the resources required to analyse the FFQ. The CSIRO FFQ had been validated by ourselves and others (7)(8)(9)(10) .…”

“…However, it is a booklet that takes 45 min to complete and has to be manually coded before the manual data entry, increasing both the respondent burden and the resources required to analyse the FFQ. The CSIRO FFQ had been validated by ourselves and others (7)(8)(9)(10) .The objectives of the present study were to examine the utility of the shorter FFQ compared with the longer FFQ and to establish the agreement between the CSIRO FFQ and the CCV FFQ, as there are advantages of reduced respondent burden and fewer professional resources of using a machine-readable FFQ. …”

Development and validation of a quantitative snack and beverage food frequency questionnaire for adolescents

“…Other reliability studies of FFQs in adolescents, reported similar ranges of kappa values and correlation coefficients (24,37,39) . The results of the validation analyses showed that mean differences for beverage intake (frequencies, absolute intakes and healthy beverage ratio) were small.…”

Iodine status of Queensland children and the associations with diet and thyroid function

“…At the time of commencement of this study, the number of validated iodine FFQs was limited but of those that did exist, compared to dietary records, the level of iodine intake established by FFQs was generally overestimated (50). Food frequency questionnaires are unreliable when determining absolute specific RDI cut-offs and therefore may not reflect precise dietary amounts (50,51). They are useful, however, in classifying groups into high or low intakes as well as identifying the main dietary sources of iodine (50).…”

“…They are useful, however, in classifying groups into high or low intakes as well as identifying the main dietary sources of iodine (50). It is for this reason, FFQs were used to estimate the ranking dietary intake of individuals but are not used to determine absolute measures of dietary intake (51). The method, however, is heavily reliant on memory recall, and may be limited to subjective interpretation of portion sizes leading to over or under estimates of micronutrient intake (46, 52).…”