Abstract
BackgroundDietary assessment methods are important tools for nutrition research. Online dietary assessment tools have the potential to become invaluable methods of assessing dietary intake because, compared with traditional methods, they have many advantages including the automatic storage of input data and the immediate generation of nutritional outputs.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to develop an online food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for dietary data collection in the “Food4Me” study and to compare this with the validated European Prospective Investigation of Cancer (EPIC) Norfolk printed FFQ.MethodsThe Food4Me FFQ used in this analysis was developed to consist of 157 food items. Standardized color photographs were incorporated in the development of the Food4Me FFQ to facilitate accurate quantification of the portion size of each food item. Participants were recruited in two centers (Dublin, Ireland and Reading, United Kingdom) and each received the online Food4Me FFQ and the printed EPIC-Norfolk FFQ in random order. Participants completed the Food4Me FFQ online and, for most food items, participants were requested to choose their usual serving size among seven possibilities from a range of portion size pictures. The level of agreement between the two methods was evaluated for both nutrient and food group intakes using the Bland and Altman method and classification into quartiles of daily intake. Correlations were calculated for nutrient and food group intakes.ResultsA total of 113 participants were recruited with a mean age of 30 (SD 10) years (40.7% male, 46/113; 59.3%, 67/113 female). Cross-classification into exact plus adjacent quartiles ranged from 77% to 97% at the nutrient level and 77% to 99% at the food group level. Agreement at the nutrient level was highest for alcohol (97%) and lowest for percent energy from polyunsaturated fatty acids (77%). Crude unadjusted correlations for nutrients ranged between .43 and .86. Agreement at the food group level was highest for “other fruits” (eg, apples, pears, oranges) and lowest for “cakes, pastries, and buns”. For food groups, correlations ranged between .41 and .90.ConclusionsThe results demonstrate that the online Food4Me FFQ has good agreement with the validated printed EPIC-Norfolk FFQ for assessing both nutrient and food group intakes, rendering it a useful tool for ranking individuals based on nutrient and food group intakes.
Highlights
Associations between dietary behaviors and chronic health risks have been established on numerous occasions [1,2], making the ability to measure dietary intake crucial for researchers and public health practitioners to improve health outcomes [3,4]
The results demonstrate that the online Food4Me food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) has good agreement with the validated printed European Prospective Investigation of Cancer (EPIC)-Norfolk FFQ for assessing both nutrient and food group intakes, rendering it a useful tool for ranking individuals based on nutrient and food group intakes. (J Med Internet Res 2014;16(6):e150) doi:10.2196/jmir
The results presented here are for the dietary assessment of 67 females (59.3%) and 46 males (40.7%) who completed both the printed EPIC-Norfolk FFQ and online Food4Me FFQ in random order
Summary
Associations between dietary behaviors and chronic health risks have been established on numerous occasions [1,2], making the ability to measure dietary intake crucial for researchers and public health practitioners to improve health outcomes [3,4]. Food records (or diaries), 24-hour recalls, and food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) are the three principle assessment methods that are used traditionally to measure dietary intake [6,7]. Food records require respondents to record all foods and beverages consumed over a specified period of time, generally between 3 and 7 days prospectively [8-10]. The 24-hour recalls are interviewer led and entail asking the respondent to remember and record all foods consumed in the preceding 24-hour period [7,10,11]. FFQs are retrospective assessment tools and require respondents to report the frequency of consumption of a predefined list of foods over a prolonged period of time, typically the previous 6 or 12 months [7]. Dietary assessment methods are important tools for nutrition research. Online dietary assessment tools have the potential to become invaluable methods of assessing dietary intake because, compared with traditional methods, they have many advantages including the automatic storage of input data and the immediate generation of nutritional outputs
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