Development and evaluation of a concise food list for use in a web-based 24-h dietary recall tool

Abstract

Foodbook24 is a self-administered web-based 24-h dietary recall tool developed to assess food and nutrient intakes of Irish adults. This paper describes the first step undertaken in developing Foodbook24 which was to limit participant burden by establishing a concise list of food items for inclusion in the tool. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether using a concise food list (as opposed to an extensive list) with generic composition data would influence the estimates of nutrient intakes in a nationally representative sample of Irish adults. A 2319-item food list generated from the Irish National Adult Nutrition Survey (NANS) (2008–2010) (n 1500) was used as the basis for a shortened food list for integration into the tool. Foods similar in nutritional composition were recoded with a generic type food code to produce a concise list of 751 food codes. The concise food list was applied to the NANS food consumption dataset and intake estimates of thirty-five nutrients were compared with estimates derived using the original extensive list. Small differences in nutrient intakes (<6 %) with limited effect size (Cohen's d < 0·1) were observed between estimates from both food lists. The concise food list showed strong positive correlations (rs 0·9–1·0, n 1500, P < 0·001) and a high level of agreement with the extensive list (80–97 % of nutrient intakes classified into the same tertile; >90% of intakes similarly categorised according to dietary reference values). This indicates that a concise food list is suitable for use in a web-based 24-h dietary recall tool for Irish adults.

Adaptation and Evaluation of Myfood24-Germany: A Web-Based Self-Administered 24-h Dietary Recall for the German Adult Population

“…For myfood24-UK, an extensive database including generic and branded items (n = 40,274) was developed in an elaborate process [11]. For Foodbook24, a contrary approach was chosen by limiting the items in the underlying database to 751 generic food items [37]. The authors assumed that the limitation of food items limits participants' burden and observed only small differences in estimated nutrient intake when comparing this concise food list with an extensive one (n = 2319 items).…”

The Development, Validation, and User Evaluation of Foodbook24: A Web-Based Dietary Assessment Tool Developed for the Irish Adult Population

“…There were, however, nutrients that were not correlated such as the intakes of monounsaturated fat and intakes that were significantly different from the semi-weighed food diary, for example, protein and fiber. In an evaluation of the shortened food-list (n=751) for integration into Foodbook24 [ 20 ], it was observed that there was less agreement for mean daily intake of monounsaturated and saturated fat due to the changes in food composition data that resulted from merging similar food and drink items that had similar composition into single food or drink descriptors or codes. Expanding the number of food items within this category may improve the agreement between methods for these nutrients.…”

“…The food composition data linked to the NANS dataset are derived from UK food composition tables [ 18 ] and the Irish Food Composition Database (IFCDB) [ 19 ]. The reduction process of the list involved the merging of food codes of a similar description and/or composition [ 20 ]. The aim of the reduction process was to reduce the food list that participants would have to search through to describe their dietary intake, thus reducing participant burden without compromising the nutrient composition output.…”

“…This process significantly reduced the total number of food and drinks from 2552 to 751 individual items. An investigation into the agreement of the shortened food list to the original comprehensive list is reported elsewhere [ 20 ], but overall shows excellent agreement and was therefore deemed appropriate for inclusion in Foodbook24. The food and drink items were grouped into 58 different food groups and further categorized into 18 categories.…”

Comparison of a Web-Based 24-h Dietary Recall Tool (Foodbook24) to an Interviewer-Led 24-h Dietary Recall

“…The concise food list integrated into the Foodbook24 tool was developed using nationally-representative food consumption data and food grouping structure from the National Adult Nutrition Survey (NANS) (2008–2010) [ 17 ]. Both the development of the tool itself and the establishment of the shortened food list for integration into the tool have been described elsewhere [ 18 , 19 ]. The NANS food composition database used data from McCance and Widdowson’s The Composition of Foods, sixth and fifth editions, plus all nine supplemental volumes to generate nutrient intake data.…”