Preliminary Validation of a Food Frequency Questionnaire to Assess Long-Chain Omega-3 Fatty Acid Intake in Eye Care Practice

Abstract

Clinical recommendations relating to dietary omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFAs) should consider an individual’s baseline intake. The time, cost, and practicality constraints of current techniques for quantifying omega-3 levels limit the feasibility of applying these methods in some settings, such as eye care practice. This preliminary validation study, involving 40 adults, sought to assess the validity of a novel questionnaire, the Clinical Omega-3 Dietary Survey (CODS), for rapidly assessing long-chain omega-3 intake. Estimated dietary intakes of long-chain omega-3s from CODS correlated with the validated Dietary Questionnaire for Epidemiology Studies (DQES), Version 3.2, (Cancer Council Victoria, Melbourne, Australia) and quantitative assays from dried blood spot (DBS) testing. The ‘method of triads’ model was used to estimate a validity coefficient (ρ) for the relationship between the CODS and an estimated “true” intake of long-chain omega-3 EFAs. The CODS had high validity for estimating the ρ (95% Confidence Interval [CI]) for total long-chain omega-3 EFAs 0.77 (0.31–0.98), docosahexaenoic acid 0.86 (0.54–0.99) and docosapentaenoic acid 0.72 (0.14–0.97), and it had moderate validity for estimating eicosapentaenoic acid 0.57 (0.21–0.93). The total long-chain omega-3 EFAs estimated using the CODS correlated with the Omega-3 index (r = 0.37, p = 0.018) quantified using the DBS biomarker. The CODS is a novel tool that can be administered rapidly and easily, to estimate long-chain omega-3 sufficiency in clinical settings.

Dietary quality and nutrient intake in adults with obsessive–compulsive disorder

“…time spent on obsessions) on a five-point Likert scale from 0 (none or minimal severity) to 4 (greatest severity). 28 The sum of these ten items allows an individual's OCD to be categorised as either subclinical (0-7), mild (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15), moderate (16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23), severe (24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31) or extreme (32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40). The Y-BOCS-SS demonstrates good psychometric properties and is considered to be the gold standard in assessing OCD symptom severity.…”

“…30 The DQES version 3.2 consists of 142 food and beverage items and provides estimates of 98 nutrient indices, including macronutrients, micronutrients, glycaemic index, fibre and alcohol. 31 Healthy Eating Index for Australian Adults -2013…”

An 8 week randomized Dietary Guidelines for Americans -based diet intervention improves the omega-3 index of healthy women

“…It has been established that the baseline OM3I is negatively associated with the OM3I response to omega-3 fatty acid intake, and various factors have been reported to influence this status marker. For instance, FFQ-based estimates of the omega-3 fatty acid intake correlate with the OM3I, and an increase in weekly additional servings of fish has been associated with a 6-13% increase in the OM3I [40][41][42][43]. Fasting triglyceride levels, age, a history of high cholesterol, 321 and smoking have also been reported to influence the OM3I [21][22][23]43].…”

Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Eye Health: Opinions and Self-Reported Practice Behaviors of Optometrists in Australia and New Zealand

“…Techniques that can be used to estimate omega-3 intake include fatty acid assays from blood samples, although testing tends to be invasive, relatively costly and may not be readily accessible to all clinicians, and collection of short-term dietary records, which can be time consuming and, thus, not ideally suited for use in clinical settings. To overcome these barriers, simple food frequency tools may be of value for providing a rapid, non-invasive estimation of an individual's omega-3 intake, and for informing clinical recommendations regarding the potential benefit, or otherwise, of supplementation or dietary modification [69].…”