Validation of a food-frequency questionnaire assessment of carotenoid and vitamin E intake using weighed food records and plasma biomarkers: The method of triads model

Objective: To validate a brief FFQ developed for capturing short-term antioxidant intake in a sample of US college students. Design: A seventy-four-item antioxidant FFQ was developed based on major antioxidant sources in the American diet. The FFQ was validated against 30 d food records (FR) and plasma antioxidant concentrations. The reliability of the FFQ was evaluated by two FFQ administered at a 1-month interval. Settings: University of Connecticut, CT, USA. Subjects: Sixty healthy college students. Results: Estimates of dietary antioxidants from the FFQ were moderately to highly correlated with those estimated from the 30 d FR (r 5 0?29-0?80; P , 0?05) except for g-tocopherol and b-cryptoxanthin. Total antioxidant capacity from diet only or from diet and supplements estimated by the 30 d FR and FFQ were highly correlated (r 5 0?67 and 0?71, respectively; P , 0?0001). The FFQ categorized 91 % of participants into the same or adjacent tertiles of antioxidant intake as the 30 d FR. Most dietary carotenoids estimated from the FFQ were correlated with plasma levels (P , 0?05). Correlation coefficients for test-retest reliability ranged from 0?39 to 0?86. More than 94 % of the participants were classified in the same or adjacent tertiles between the two administrations of the FFQ. Conclusions:The brief FFQ demonstrated reasonable validity for capturing a comprehensive antioxidant intake profile. This FFQ is applicable in epidemiological or clinical studies to capture short-term antioxidant intake or to simply document the variations of antioxidant intake in intervention trials. Cross-validation studies are warranted in other target populations.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Validation of an FFQ to assess short-term antioxidant intake against 30 d food records and plasma biomarkers

Yang

Wáng

Davis

et al. 2012

“…This provides reassurance that the data obtained from this FFQ are reproducible. An earlier version of the FFQ was also shown to have good validity for measurement of diet (11)(12)(13)(14) and thus the FFQ can be used to rank subjects in an adult Australian population according to their dietary intake with some confidence. Our results are comparable to those from studies of similar FFQ used in Western adult populations, where the ICC between two administrations of the FFQ ranged from 0?50 to 0?70 (6) or from 0?40 to 0?95 (21,22) .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproducibility of food and nutrient intake estimates using a semi-quantitative FFQ in Australian adults

Ibiebele

Parekh

Mallitt

et al. 2009

Objective: To assess the reproducibility of a 135-item self-administered semiquantitative FFQ. Design: Control subjects who had previously completed an FFQ relating to usual dietary intake in a nationwide case-control study of cancer between November 2003 and April 2004 were randomly selected, re-contacted, and invited to complete the same FFQ a second time approximately one year later (between January and April 2005). Agreement between the two FFQ was compared using weighted kappa statistics and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for food groups and nutrients. Summary questions, included in the FFQ, were used to assess overall intakes of vegetables, fruits and meat. Setting: General community in Australia. Subjects: One hundred men and women aged 22-79 years, randomly selected from the previous control population. Results: The weighted k and ICC measures of agreement for food groups were moderate to substantial for seventeen of the eighteen food groups. For nutrients, weighted k ranged from 0?44 for starch to 0?83 for alcohol while ICC ranged from 0?51 to 0?91 for the same nutrients. Estimates of meat, fruit and vegetable intake using summary questions were similar for both survey periods, but were significantly lower than estimates from summed individual food items. Conclusions: The FFQ produced reproducible results and is reasonable in assessing the usual intake of various foods and nutrients among an Australian adult population.Keywords Reproducibility Food-frequency questionnaire Short summary questions DietNutrition has been established as a major determinant of chronic diseases including type 2 diabetes (1) , CVD (2,3) and certain cancers (4) , with strong positive and negative effects on health throughout the lifetime. These effects may be a direct consequence of the nutrients in foods or indirectly related to energy balance, as it is widely known that habitual intake of energy in excess of expenditure results in weight gain and obesity is a risk factor for many chronic diseases. For example, the recent report from the World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research concluded that red and processed meats increase risk of colorectal cancer, while high intake of certain fruits and non-starchy vegetables probably reduces risk of cancers of the ovary, pharynx and larynx, oesophagus and stomach (4) . Cohort studies have also shown that low intake of animal fat, moderate consumption of alcohol, particularly red wine, and high intakes of oily fish, fruits and vegetables are associated with reduced CHD risk (3) . Overall, it has been estimated that nutrition and associated factors (physical activity and obesity) may account for 30-40 % of all cancers (4) . In contrast to many other risk factors for disease, diet is potentially modifiable. It is therefore important that dietary intake be quantified through accurate and precise methods in order to determine the specific role dietary factors play in chronic disease promotion or prevention. In large-scale epidemiological studies...

“…range observed in various forms of the Willett FFQ and the UK-EPIC FFQ (29,31,34,35,(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45) . High validity coefficients were also observed for cholesterol, vitamin A, b-carotene, folate, vitamin C and vitamin E in comparison with previous NZ FFQ (9)(10)(11)(12)(13) .…”

Section: Relative Validitymentioning

confidence: 99%

A comprehensive FFQ developed for use in New Zealand adults: reliability and validity for nutrient intakes

Sam

Skeaff

Skidmore

2012

Objective: To evaluate the reliability and relative validity of a semi-quantitative FFQ for assessing the habitual intake of multiple nutrients in New Zealand (NZ) adults over the past 12 months. Design: A 154-item FFQ was developed. After initial pre-testing, reliability was assessed using intra-class correlations. Relative validity was assessed by comparing nutrient intakes derived from the FFQ v. those from an 8 d diet record (8dWDR) collected over 12 months and selected blood biomarkers, using Spearman correlations. Supplementary cross-classification and Bland-Altman analyses were performed to assess validity of the FFQ v. the 8dWDR. Setting: Dunedin, NZ. Subjects: One hundred and thirty-two males and females aged 30-59 years who completed all FFQ and 8dWDR and provided a blood sample. Results: Reliability coefficients ranged from 0?47 for Ca to 0?83 for alcohol, with most values falling between 0?60 and 0?80. The highest validity coefficients for energy-adjusted data were observed for alcohol (0?74), cholesterol (0?65) and b-carotene (0?58), and the lowest for Zn (0?24) and Ca (0?28). For all energyadjusted nutrients mean percentage correct classification was 77?9 % and gross misclassification was 4?5 %. Results of Bland-Altman analyses showed wide limits of agreement for all micronutrients but high agreement was observed for most macronutrients (99 % for protein, 103 % for total fat). When compared with biomarkers, energy-adjusted coefficients were 0?34 for b-carotene and 0?33 for vitamin C. Conclusions: The FFQ provides highly repeatable measurements and good validity in ranking individuals' intake, suggesting that it will be a useful tool to assess nutrient intake of NZ adults in future research.