Table 2.
Characteristics of the seventeen FFQ validation studies
| First author(ref) | FFQ food groups | FFQ food items | Consumption interval | FFQ type | Administration mode | Portion size estimation method | Food composition database used | Administration duration | No. of FFQ administered | FFQ interval (retest) | Reference method (characteristics) | Statistics used for validation | Statistics used for reproducibility | Quality level, according to Dennis et al.( 11 ) | Quality level, according to Serra-Majem et al. ( 12 ) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ambrosini( 13 ) | 15 | 212 | Previous year | PB | IW | Standard serving size given in household units and based on weighted FR collected in previous work | Australian food composition data 1995 | NR | 1 | 0 | FR (3 d) | Pearson's CC; Bland–Altman method (mean agreement %, LOA %), slope regression; tertile method | NS | High | Good |
| Araujo( 14 ) | NR | 93 | NR | PB | IW | NR | NutWin software 1·5, 2005, Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil | NR | 1 | 0 | FR (3 d, two weekdays and one weekend day) | Pearson's CC; κ w, Bland–Altman method (mean agreement %, LOA %), slope regression; quartile method | NS | High | Good |
| Bertoli( 15 ) | 16 | 136 | NR | PB | IW | Portions classified in three sizes (A small, B medium, C large), displayed as a photograph for each item | Food composition data of the Italian National Institute of Nutrition (Winfood 1·0b version; Medimatica, Martinsicuro, Italy) | 30 min | 1 | 0 | WFR (7 d) | Pearson's CC; κ w, Bland–Altman method (mean agreement %, LOA %); tertile method | NS | High | Good |
| Cullen( 16 ) | NR | 72 | Previous week | PB | IW | Visual serving sizes on plates and bowls, based on the 2005 Dietary Guidelines (food groups) and US FDA serving sizes | NHANES data | NR | 2 | 1 month later | 24-HR (two, one weekday and one weekend day; over a 7 d period) | Pearson's CC; paired t tests, Bland–Altman method (mean agreement %, LOA %) | ICC | High | Good |
| Deschamps( 17 ) | 24 | 124 | Previous year | PB | IW | For 45 food items: photographs, with three portion sizes (FLVS I). For the other 61 food items: average portion size from FLVS I | French REGAL food composition table | NR | 2 | 6 months later | 24-HR (four, one each season) | Pearson's CC; quintile method | ICC | High | Good |
| Hoelscher( 18 ) | 19 | 200 | Previous week | PB | IW | None | None | 20–45 min | 1 | 0 | 24-HR (one, in the same day 2 h after the FFQ) | Spearman's CC; κ; % agreement | Spearman's CC; κ; % agreement | High | Good |
| Hong( 19 ) | NR | 170 | Previous 6 months | PB | IW | Book of portion sizes described and evaluated for use in Vietnamese adults | EIYOKUN version 1, developed from Vietnamese food consumption tables | 30 min | 3 | 1 month later and 6 months later | 24-HR (four, three weekdays and one weekend day) | Pearson's CC; κ w; Bland–Altman method (mean agreement %, LOA %); quintile method | NS | High | Good |
| Lietz( 1 ) | 10 | 130 | Previous year | PB | IW | Wrappers/labels of packaged foods and drinks, from standard weights of school dinner portions and from MAFF photographic food atlas and food portion-size book | NR | NR | 1 | 0 | WFR (7 d) | Spearman's CC; Bland–Altman method (mean agreement %, LOA %); tertile method | NS | High | Good |
| Matthys( 20 ) | 15 | 69 | Previous month | WB | SA | Based on existing consumption data of Flemish adolescents from 1997 and the portion-size question was accompanied by a small list of common standard measures as examples | None | 30–40 min (general questionnaire+FFQ) | 2 | 1 month later | 3 d FR (one, two weekdays and one weekend day) | Spearman's CC; Bland–Altman method (mean agreement %, LOA %) | Spearman's CC; Bland–Altman method (mean agreement %, LOA %) | Low | Poor |
| Papadopoulou( 22 ) | 12 | 108 | Previous week | PB | IW | NR | McCance and Widdowson's food tables and Trichopoulou's (1992) food tables | NR | 1 | 0 | WFR (3 d) | Pearson's CC | NS | High | Acceptable/reasonable |
| Rockett( 23 ) | NR | 26 | NR | PB | IW | National Food Consumption Survey Foods Commonly Eaten by individuals; for many foods, natural or manufactured units used | Harvards ffq·042393 program, based on USDA handbook 8 series and McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods | NR | 1 | 0 | (i) FFQ (YAQ) full list; (ii) 24-HR (three, every 4 months; over a 1-year period) | Pearson's CC | NS | Low | Good |
| Shatenstein( 24 ) | NR | 78 | Previous year | PB | SA | Food-specific photographs | CANDAT software, based on the 2007b Canadian Nutrient File | 30 min | 1 | 0 | FR (3 d, two weekdays and one weekend day) | Spearman's CC; Bland–Altman method (mean agreement %, LOA %); quartile method | NS | High | Acceptable/ reasonable |
| Slater( 26 ) | NR | 76 | Previous 6 months | PB | IW | Portion sizes in grams. For 10 items which presented differences in intake between males and females, Virtual Nutri program was used | Virtual Nutri program | NR | 1 | 0 | 24-HR (three, two weekdays and one weekend day, applied at intervals of 45 d) | Pearson's CC; quartile method | NS | High | Very good/excellent |
| Vereecken( 27 ) | NR | 15 | NR | PB | IW | NR | None | NR | 2 | 1–2 weeks later | 24-HR (24 h FBC) | Spearman's CC; κ w; agreement % | Spearman's CC; κ w; agreement % | Low | Good |
| Vereecken( 29 ) | 22 | 137 | NR | WB | IW and SA | Almost 200 sets of standardized photographs | Dutch Nevo table (2001) and the Belgian Nubel table (2004) | NR | 2 | 1–2 weeks later | 24-HR (YANA-C) (four, three weekdays and one weekend day, over a 2-month period) | Spearman's CC; Bland–Altman method (mean agreement %, LOA %) | Spearman's CC | High | Good |
| Watanabe( 30 ) | 11 | 82 | Previous month | PB | SA | Small, medium and large portions. The standard amount for ‘medium’ was determined by consulting a past survey (September 2006) | Microsoft® Excel 2007 program | 30 min | 2 | 1 month later | WFR (7 d) (‘7 d-FRRI’) | Pearson's and Spearman's CC | NS | High | Poor |
| Watson( 31 ) | NR | 120 | Previous 6 months | PB | SA | Natural’ serving size (e.g. slice of bread). In the absence of a natural serving size, portion sizes were derived from the 1995 NNS (unpublished data purchased from the ABS) | Nutrient intakes computed in FoodWorks (version 3·02·581) using the following databases: Australian AusNut 1999 database (All Foods) Revision 14 and AusFoods (Brands) Revision 5 | NR | 2 | 5 months later | FR (1 d) | Pearson's and Spearman's CC; κ w; Bland–Altman method (mean agreement %, LOA %); quintile method | Pearson's and Spearman's CC | High | Good |
NR, not reported; PB, paper based; WB, web based; IW, interviewer administered; SA, self-administered; FR, food record; FDA, Food and Drug Administration; FLVS I, Fleurbaix Laventie Ville Santé Study I; MAFF, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Foods; NNS, National Nutrition Survey; ABS, Australian Bureau of Statistics; NHANES, National Heatlh and Nutrition Examination Survey; USDA, US Department of Agriculture; WFR, weighted food record; 24-HR, 24 h recall; YAQ, Youth/Adolescent Questionnaire; FBC, food behaviour checklist; YANA-C, Young Adolescents’ Nutrition Assessment on Computer; CC, correlation coefficient; LOA, limits of agreement; κ w, weighted kappa coefficient; NS, not stated; ICC, intra-class correlation coefficient.