Development of a quantitative food frequency questionnaire for Brazilian patients with type 2 diabetes.

Roberta Aguiar Sarmento,Bárbara Pelicioli Riboldi,Ticiana Da Costa Rodrigues,Jussara Carnevale De Almeida,Mirela Jobim De Azevedo

doi:10.1186/1471-2458-13-740

Abstract

BackgroundTo investigate the association between dietary components and development of chronic diabetic complications, the dietary evaluation should include a long period, months or years. The present manuscript aims to develop a quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and a portfolio with food photos to assess the usual intake pattern of Brazilian patients with type 2 diabetes to be used in future studies.MethodsDietary data using 3-day weighed diet records (WDR) from 188 outpatients with type 2 diabetes were used to construct the list of usually consumed foods. Foods were initially clustered into eight groups: “cereals, tubers, roots, and derivatives”; “vegetables and legumes”; “fruits”; “beans”; “meat and eggs”; “milk and dairy products”; “oils and fats”, and “sugars and sweets”. The frequency of food intake and the relative contribution of each food item to the total energy and nutrient intakes were calculated. Portion sizes were determined according to the 25th, 50th, 75th, and 95th percentiles of intake for each food item.ResultsA total of 62 food items were selected based on the 3-day WDR and another 27 foods or how they are prepared and nine beverages were included after the expert examination. Also, a portfolio with food photos of each included food item and portion sizes was made to assist the patients in identifying the consumed portion.ConclusionsWe developed a practical quantitative FFQ and portfolio with photos of 98 food items covering those most commonly consumed in the past 12 months, to assess the usual diet pattern of patients with type 2 diabetes in Southern Brazil.

Highlights

To investigate the association between dietary components and development of chronic diabetic complications, the dietary evaluation should include a long period, months or years
A list of 177 different food items was compiled based on data from the weighed diet records (WDR) and the number of food items in each food cluster was as follows: “cereals, tubers, roots, and derivatives” - 39 food items; “vegetables and legumes” - 34 food items; “fruits”- 22 food items; “beans” - 5 food items; “meat and eggs” - 27 food items; “milk and dairy products” - 14 food items; “oils and fats” - 7 food items; “sugars and sweets”- 16 food items; “beverages” - 13 food items
We constructed a quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and a portfolio with photos of 98 food items distributed into nine food groups and based on WDR performed by patients with type 2 diabetes

Summary

Introduction

To investigate the association between dietary components and development of chronic diabetic complications, the dietary evaluation should include a long period, months or years. The present manuscript aims to develop a quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and a portfolio with food photos to assess the usual intake pattern of Brazilian patients with type 2 diabetes to be used in future studies. To investigate the association between dietary components and development of chronic diabetic complications, the dietary evaluation should include a long period, months or years, as is the case of FFQ. Four FFQs involving patients with diabetes have been validated and published in specific populations: Australian [4], Japanese [5], Malian [6], and Korean [7]; none was made for the Brazilian population. The FFQ should represent regional habits and the accuracy of such data needs to take this into account [8]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion