Comparison of a short version of the Food Frequency Questionnaire with its long version--a cross-sectional analysis in the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil).

Livia Welter Mannato,Taisa Sabrina Silva Pereira,Letícia De Oliveira Cardoso,Maria Del Carmen Bisi Molina,Gustavo Velasquez-Melendez,Isabela Martins Benseñor

doi:10.1590/1516-3180.2014.00533004

Abstract

The food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) is the preferred instrument for obtaining dietary information in epidemiological studies. A short form of the FFQ was compared with the original version that was used in the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil), and also with three 24-hour dietary recalls. Cross-sectional study carried out in six Brazilian state capitals. Multiple linear regression was used to reduce the original food and drink list of the FFQ, which had contained 114 food items. The frequency of consumption and nutritional composition of the foods were also taken into consideration. To assess the validity of the shortened FFQ, the energy and nutrients values of the 24-hour dietary recalls were deattenuated and log-transformed. The list of the FFQ of ELSA-Brasil was reduced to 76 food items. The intraclass correlation coefficients in the validation study ranged from 0.17 (selenium) to 0.66 (calcium). The number of items was reduced by 33%, while still maintaining relatively good capacity to measure energy and selected nutrients.

Highlights

The correlation between different levels of nutrient intake and occurrences of chronic diseases is very important for planning and implementing public health policies.[1,2,3,4] One of the main challenges in nutritional epidemiology is to develop practical, valid and feasible methods for measuring diet.[5,6,7]Measuring food and nutrient consumption is not an easy task
food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) make it possible to rank individuals according to consumption levels, and allow links to be established between diet and specific events.[5,6,7,8]
From the Pearson correlation matrices, the nutrients were selected for each food, as follows: 82 foods that correlated with the total energy intake [r from 0.13 to 0.36]; 67 foods that correlated with carbohydrate intake [r from 0.12 to 0.41]; 42 foods that correlated with protein intake [r from 0.13 to 0.37]; 41 foods that correlated with lipid intake [r from 0.12 to 0.42]; 27 foods that correlated with fiber [r from 0.12 to

Summary

Introduction

Measuring food and nutrient consumption is not an easy task. This is due to the complexity of the human diet, and the intrinsic difficulties associated with methods used in dietary surveys.[5] In this setting, food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) have been proven to be crucial for investigating the relationship between diet and health.[5,6] FFQs make it possible to rank individuals according to consumption levels, and allow links to be established between diet and specific events.[5,6,7,8]

Methods

Results

Conclusion