Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T07:10:19.872Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Comparison of an Australian food-frequency questionnaire with diet records: implications for nutrition surveillance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2007

GL Ambrosini ,
D Mackerras ,
NH de Klerk  and
AW Musk
GL Ambrosini*
Affiliation:
School of Population Health, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia
D Mackerras
Affiliation:
Menzies School of Health Research, Casuarina, Northern Territory 0811, Australia
NH de Klerk
Affiliation:
School of Population Health, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia
AW Musk
Affiliation:
School of Population Health, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia Department of Respiratory Medicine, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Nedlands, Western Australia 6009, Australia
*
*Corresponding author: Email ginaa@sph.uwa.edu.au
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Objectives:

To compare a widely used Australian food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) with diet records and consider the results in relation to its use in nutrition surveillance.

Design:

Inter-method reliability study.

Setting:

A randomised trial in subjects with past asbestos exposure.

Subjects:

Seventy-two adults living in Western Australia.

Methods:

A semi-quantitative FFQ developed by the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation in South Australia was administered after the completion of four 7-day diet records (DRs).

Results:

Mean agreement between methods was not significantly different from 100% for many nutrients, but the limits of agreement indicated that, at the individual level, the FFQ over- or underestimated the DR by at least 50%. Mean agreement between methods decreased significantly with increasing intakes for the majority of nutrients. Pearson's correlation coefficients were less informative indicators of agreement compared with the limits of agreement.

Conclusions:

These results indicate poor agreement between the FFQ and DR when estimating absolute intakes. Therefore, comparing intakes collected using this FFQ with specific cut-off points such as Recommended Dietary Intakes for nutrition surveillance may lead to seriously flawed conclusions about population intakes.

Keywords

Food-frequency questionnaireReliabilityValidityDiet recordsNutrition surveys
Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , June 2003 , pp. 415 - 422
Copyright
Copyright © CABI Publishing 2003

References

1Sempos, C. Some limitations of semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires [invited commentary]. Am. J. Epidemiol. 1992; 135: 1127–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2Lissner, L, Heitman, BL, Lindroos, AK. Measuring intake in free-living human subjects: a question of bias. Proc. Nutr. Soc. 1998; 57: 333–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3Baghurst, KI, Baghurst, PA. The measurement of usual dietary intake in individuals and groups. Trans. Menzies Found. 1981; 3: 139–60.Google Scholar
4Baghurst, KI, Record, SJ. A computerised dietary analysis system for use with diaries or food frequency questionnaires. Community Health Stud. 1984; 8: 11–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5Rohan, TE, Potter, JD. Retrospective assessment of dietary intake. Am. J. Epidemiol. 1984; 120: 876–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6Gliksman, MD, Lazarus, R, Wilson, R, Leeder, SR, Koutts, J. The Western Sydney stroke risk in the elderly study. A 5-year prospective study. Ann. Epidemiol. 1994; 4: 59–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7Hodge, L, Salome, CM, Peat, JK, Haby, MM, Xuan, W, Woolcock, AJ. Consumption of oily fish and childhood asthma risk. Med. J. Aust. 1996; 164: 137–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8Baghurst, PA, McMichael, AJ, Slavotinek, AH, Baghurst, K, Boyle, P, Walker, AM. A case–control study of diet and cancer of the pancreas. Am. J. Epidemiol. 1991; 134: 167–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9Potter, JD, McMichael, AJ. Diet and cancer of the colon and rectum: a case–control study. J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 1986; 76: 557–69.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10Steinmetz, KA, Potter, JD. Food group consumption and colon cancer in the Adelaide case–control study. I. Vegetables and fruit. Int. J. Cancer 1993; 53: 711–9.Google Scholar
11Kune, GA, Bannerman, S, Watson, LF. Attributable risk for diet, alcohol, and family history in the Melbourne Colorectal Cancer Study. Nutr. Cancer 1992; 18: 231–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12Rohan, TE, McMichael, AJ, Baghurst, KI. A population-based case–control study of diet and breast cancer in Australia. Am. J. Epidemiol. 1988; 128: 478–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13Baghurst, KI, Record, SJ. Intake and sources in selected Australian subpopulations, of dietary constituents implicated in the etiology of chronic diseases. J. Food Nutr. 1983; 40: 1–15.Google Scholar
14Rangan, AM, Binns, CW, Blight, GD. Dietary iron and calcium intakes of female university students. Aust. J. Nutr. Diet. 1997; 54: 110–6.Google Scholar
15Baghurst, KI, Dreosti, IE, Syrette, JA, Record, SJ, Baghurst, PA, Buckley, RA. Zinc and magnesium status of Australian adults. Nutr. Res. 1991; 11: 23–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16Baghurst, KI. Dietary intakes of a free living elderly population. Proc. Nutr. Soc. Aust. 1985; 10: 174.Google Scholar
17Baghurst, KI, Record, SJ. The vitamin and mineral intake of a free-living young elderly Australian population in relation to total diet and supplementation practices. Hum. Nutr. Appl. Nutr. 1987; 41A: 327–37.Google Scholar
18Horwath, CC. Dietary survey of a large random sample of elderly people: energy and nutrient intakes. Nutr. Res. 1989; 9: 479–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19Syrette, JA, Baghurst, KI. Dairy products and nutrient intake in ten year old children. Proc. Nutr. Soc. Aust. 1988; 13: 145.Google Scholar
20Baghurst, KI, Record, SJ, Baghurst, PA, Syrette, JA, Crawford, D, Worsley, A. Sociodemographic determinants in Australia of the intake of food and nutrients implicated in cancer aetiology. Med. J. Aust. 1990; 153: 444–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21Baghurst, KI, Crawford, DA, Worsley, A, Record, SJ. The Victorian Nutrition Survey – intakes and sources of dietary fats and cholesterol in the Victorian population. Med. J. Aust. 1988; 149: 12–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
22Horwath, CC, Worsley, A. Dietary habits of elderly persons with diabetes. J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 1991; 91: 553–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
23Riley, MD, Blizzard, L. Comparative validity of a food frequency questionnaire for adults with IDDM. Diabetes Care 1995; 18: 1249–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
24Barratt, A, Reznik, R, Irwig, L, Cuff, A, Simpson, JM, Oldenburg, B, et al. Work-site cholesterol screening and dietary intervention: the staff healthy heart project. Am. J. Public Health 1994; 84: 779–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
25Horwarth, CC. Dietary changes reported by a random sample of elderly people. J. Nutr. Elderly. 1992; 12: 13–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
26Baghurst, KI, Baghurst, PA, Record, SJ. Demographic and nutritional profiles of people consuming varying levels of added sugars. Nutr. Res. 1992; 12: 1455–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
27Rohan, TE, Record, SJ, Cook, MG. Repeatability of estimates of nutrient and energy intake: the quantitative food frequency approach. Nutr. Res. 1987; 7: 125–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
28Tassie, K, Baghurst, K, Record, S, Nordin, B. Usual dietary intake of middle-aged women using the food frequency method. In: Wahlqvist, M, Truswell, A, eds. Recent Advances in Clinical Nutrition. London: John Libbey, 1985.Google Scholar
29Gelissen, IC, Roberts, DCK. Comparison of estimated nutrient intake by two methods: validation of a food frequency questionnaire. J. Hum. Nutr. Diet. 1992; 5: 215–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
30Amanatidis, S, Mackerras, D, Simpson, JM. Comparison of two frequency questionnaires for quantifying fruit and vegetable intake. Public Health Nutr. 2001; 4: 233–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
31Armstrong, BK, White, E, Saracci, R. Principles of Exposure Measurement in Epidemiology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
32Bland, JM, Altman, DG. Measuring agreement in method comparison studies. Stat. Meth. Med. Res. 1999; 8: 135–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
33Musk, AW, de Klerk, NH, Ambrosini, GL, Eccles, JL, Hansen, J, Olsen, NJ, et al. Vitamin A and cancer prevention I: observations in workers previously exposed to asbestos at Wittenoom, Western Australia. Int. J. Cancer 1998; 75: 335–61.3.0.CO;2-1>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
34Goodsell, C. Diet/1 Nutrient Analysis Software, Edition 3.10. Brisbane: Xyris Software, 1991.Google Scholar
35Lewis, J, Holt, R. NUTTAB91–92: Commonwealth Government of Australia. Canberra: National Food Authority, 1992.Google Scholar
36Schofield, WN. Predicting basal metabolic rate, new standards and review of previous work. Hum. Nutr. Clin. Nutr. 1985; 39(Suppl. 1): 5–41.Google ScholarPubMed
37Kristal, AR, Cohen, JH, Qu, P, Stanford, JL. Associations of energy, fat, calcium, and vitamin D with prostate cancer risk. Cancer Epidemiol. Biomark. Prev. 2002; 11: 719–25.Google ScholarPubMed
38Bland, MJ, Altman, DG. Statistical methods for assessing agreement between two methods of clinical assessment. Lancet 1986; 1(8476): 307–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
39Chinn, S. The assessment of methods of measurement. Stat. Med. 1990; 9: 351–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
40SAS Institute, Inc.. The SAS System for Windows, Version 8.01. Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc., 2000.Google Scholar
41Ambrosini, GL, de Klerk, NH, Musk, AW, Mackerras, D. Agreement between a brief food frequency questionnaire and diet records using two statistical methods. Public Health Nutr. 2001; 4: 255–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
42Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/World Health Organization (WHO)/United Nations University (UNU). Energy and Protein Requirements. Report of a Joint Expert Consultation. WHO Technical Report Series No. 724, Geneva: FAO/WHO/UNU, 1985.Google Scholar
43Wheeler, CE, Rutishauser, IHE, O'Dea, K. Comparison of nutrient intake data from two food frequency questionnaires and weighed records. Aust. J. Nutr. Diet. 1995; 52: 140–8.Google Scholar
44Hodge, A, Patterson, AJ, Brown, WJ, Ireland, P, Giles, G. The Anti Cancer Council of Victoria FFQ: relative validity of nutrient intakes compared with weighed food records in young to middle-aged women in a study of iron supplementation. Aust. NZ J. Public Health 2000; 24: 576–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar