Abstract
The development of reliable Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQs) requires detailed information about the level and variation of dietary intake of the target population. However, these data are often limited. To facilitate the development of new high quality FFQs and validation of existing FFQs, we developed a comprehensive National Dietary Assessment Reference Database (NDARD) detailing information about the level and variation in dietary intake of people 20–70 years old in the general Dutch population. This paper describes the methods and characteristics of the population included in the NDARD database. A total of 1063 men and 985 women agreed to participate in this study. Dietary intake data were collected using different FFQs, web-based and telephone-based 24-h recalls, as well as blood and urine-based biomarkers. The baseline FFQ was completed by 1647 participants with a mean age of 51 ± 12 years, BMI of 26 ± 4 kg/m2, and energy intake of 2051 ± 605 kcal/day. The percentage of total energy intake from proteins, carbohydrates, and fats were 15 ± 2, 43 ± 6, and 36 ± 5 En%, respectively. A total of 1113 participants completed telephone-based recalls and 1783 participants completed web-based recalls. This database will enable researchers to validate existing national FFQs and to develop new high quality dietary assessment methods.
Highlights
To study the impact of diet on disease risk in observational studies, it is crucial to obtain valid information about the habitual dietary intake of the population under study
These data are meant to serve as the basis for the development of a national dietary reference database that can be used for the development of novel Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQs) and the validation of existing and newly developed FFQs
A major asset of the National Dietary Assessment Reference Database (NDARD) database is it contains data obtained by FFQs, multiple 24-h recalls, and biochemical markers—all covering a similar time window
Summary
To study the impact of diet on disease risk in observational studies, it is crucial to obtain valid information about the habitual dietary intake of the population under study. It is challenging to develop a valid and reliable FFQ. The first challenge in developing an FFQ is to accurately identify food items that contain the nutrients to be studied in the target population. In the Netherlands, researchers currently use the results of the Dutch National Food Consumption Survey (DNFCS), compiled from a representative sample of the Dutch population [2], to identify relevant food items [3]. One of the drawbacks of using the DNFCS data is that they are collected by means of duplicate 24-h recalls [2] and provide limited information on the day-to-day variation in dietary intake. The DNFCS data are Nutrients 2017, 9, 1136; doi:10.3390/nu9101136 www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients
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