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Reproducibility of the Online Food4Me Food-Frequency Questionnaire for Estimating Dietary Intakes across Europe

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Katherine Livingstone, Dr Carlos Celis Morales, Professor John Mathers

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Abstract

Background: Accurate dietary assessment is key to understanding nutrition-related outcomes and is essential for estimating dietary change in nutrition-based interventions.Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the pan-European reproducibility of the Food4Me food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) in assessing the habitual diet of adults.Methods: Participants from the Food4Me study, a 6-mo, Internet-based, randomized controlled trial of personalized nutrition conducted in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Greece, and Poland, were included. Screening and baseline data (both collected before commencement of the intervention) were used in the present analyses, and participants were included only if they completed FFQs at screening and at baseline within a 1-mo timeframe before the commencement of the intervention. Sociodemographic (e.g., sex and country) and lifestyle [e.g., body mass index (BMI, in kg/m(2)) and physical activity] characteristics were collected. Linear regression, correlation coefficients, concordance (percentage) in quartile classification, and Bland-Altman plots for daily intakes were used to assess reproducibility.Results: In total, 567 participants (59% female), with a mean +/- SD age of 38.7 +/- 13.4 y and BMI of 25.4 +/- 4.8, completed both FFQs within 1 mo (mean +/- SD: 19.2 +/- 6.2 d). Exact plus adjacent classification of total energy intake in participants was highest in Ireland (94%) and lowest in Poland (81 %). Spearman correlation coefficients (p) in total energy intake between FFQs ranged from 0.50 for obese participants to 0.68 and 0.60 in normal-weight and overweight participants, respectively. Bland-Altman plots showed a mean difference between FFQs of 210 kcal/d, with the agreement deteriorating as energy intakes increased. There was little variation in reproducibility of total energy intakes between sex and age groups.Conclusions: The online Food4Me FFQ was shown to be reproducible across 7 European countries when administered within a 1-mo period to a large number of participants. The results support the utility of the online Food4Me FFQ as a reproducible tool across multiple European populations.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Marshall SJ, Livingstone KM, Celis-Morales C, Forster H, Fallaize R, O'Donovan CB, Woolhead C, Marsaux CFM, Macready AL, Navas-Carretero S, San-Cristobal R, Kolossa S, Tsirigoti L, Lambrinou CP, Moschonis G, Godlewska M, Surwillo A, Drevon CA, Manios Y, Traczyk I, Martinez JA, Saris WH, Daniel H, Gibney ER, Brennan L, Walsh MC, Lovegrove JA, Gibney M, Mathers JC, Food4Me Study

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Journal of Nutrition

Year: 2016

Volume: 146

Issue: 5

Pages: 1068-1075

Print publication date: 01/05/2016

Online publication date: 06/04/2016

Acceptance date: 26/02/2016

Date deposited: 06/06/2016

ISSN (print): 0022-3166

ISSN (electronic): 1541-6100

Publisher: American Society for Nutrition

URL: http://dxd.oi.org/10.3945/jn.115.225078

DOI: 10.3945/jn.115.225078


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