Disagreement of energy and macronutrient intakes estimated from a food frequency questionnaire and 3-day diet record in girls 4 to 9 years of age.J Am Diet Assoc. 2004 Mar; 104(3):373-8.JA
BACKGROUND
The Block98 food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) has been validated for dietary assessment of usual intakes in adults, but not in children.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the agreement of the Block98 FFQ and 3-day diet records for measuring dietary intakes in young girls.
SUBJECTS/SETTING
Healthy 4- to 9-year-old girls (N=61; 6.5+/-1.6 years) were recruited from the Athens/Clarke county area in Georgia.
DESIGN
Dietary intakes were measured using the Block98 FFQ and 3-day diet records, with nutrient analysis of the 3-day diet records conducted using the Food Processor computer program (ESHA; version 7.21, 1998, ESHA Research, Salem, OR). The Block98 FFQ was completed by a trained interviewer and parent, with input from the child, if able. Food models and portion size pictures were used to increase reporting accuracy.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
Paired sample t tests and simple regression were conducted to determine whether the two diet instruments reported similar values for energy and macronutrients.
RESULTS
Block98 FFQ overestimated intakes from 3-day diet records for energy (2,180+/-692 vs 1,749+/-328 kcal), protein (68.3+/-25.9 vs 57.9+/-14.8 g/day), carbohydrate (298.7+/-97.0 vs 244.7+/-46.1 g/day) and fat (83.6+/-30.5 vs 62.3+/-14.7 g/day) (P<.05). Furthermore, the nutrients assessed using the two different methods were only moderately correlated (range: r=0.40 to 0.55).
APPLICATIONS/CONCLUSIONS
The Block98 FFQ agreed weakly to moderately with the 3-day diet records, and resulted in consistently higher intakes of all nutrients. These findings suggest that additional work is needed to develop a FFQ that reflects young children's energy and macronutrient intakes.