. 2018 Jul 24;76(10):747–764. doi: 10.1093/nutrit/nuy027

Table 3.

Index construction criteria

Index	Theoretical framework			Dimensions				Dimensional structure	Indicator selection		Normalization		Aggregation technique
	Recommen-dations	Mediterranean diet	Target region (analyzed region)	Adequacy	Moderation	Balance	Variety	Nested Ordered Not ordered	Data base	Food groups Nutrients Both	Dichotomous Ordinal Metric Ordinal/metric	Scoring range	Weighted
BSDS-M-2014, Kanerva et al. (2014)²²	×		Nordic countries (Finland)	×	×	Ratio PUFA/(SFA+ trans-fatty acids)		Ordered	131-item FFQ	Both	Dichotomous	[0; 9]	Equally by indicators
BSDS-Q-2014, Kanerva et al. (2014)²²	×		Nordic countries (Finland)	×	×	Ratio PUFA/(SFA+ trans-fatty acids)		Ordered	131-item FFQ	Both	Ordinal^a	[0; 25]	Equally by indicators
D-HDI-2003, Dynesen et al. (2003)²³	×		Denmark	×	×			Ordered	13-item short FFQ	FG	Ordinal	[0; 15]	Equally by indicators
D-DQI-2012, Knudsen et al. (2012)²⁴	×		Denmark	×	×			Not ordered	Food diary	Both	Metric	[0; 6]	Equally by indicators
DQI-1994, Patterson et al. (1994)²⁵	×		USA	×	×			Not ordered	24-h recall + 2 d food record	Both	Ordinal	[0; 16]^b	By number of indicators per recommendation
DQI-2003, Seymour et al. (2003)⁸	×		USA	×	×			Not ordered	68-item FFQ	Both	Ordinal	[0; 16]^b	By number of indicators per recommendation
DQI-R-1999, Haines et al. (1999)²⁶	×		USA	×	×		×	Ordered^c	24-h recall method	Both	Ordinal/metric	[0; 100]	Equally per main component
DQI-R-2003, Newby et al. (2003)²⁷	×		USA	×	×		×	Ordered^c	131-item FFQ + 2 1-wk food record	Both	Ordinal/metric	[0; 100]	Equally per main component
DQI-I-2003, Kim et al. (2003)²⁸	×		Global	×	×	Ratio CH/PR/FA and PUFA/MUFA/SFA	×	Nested	24-h recall method	Both	Ordinal/metric	[0; 100]	By indicators and subscores
DQI-SNR-2011, Drake et al. (2011)²⁹	×		Sweden	×	×	PUFA range		Not ordered	Modified DHM	Both	Dichotomous	[0; 6]	Equally by indicators
CH-DQI-2000, Stookey et al. (2000)³⁰	×		China	×	×	FA and CH range	×	Nested	24-h recall method	Both	Ordinal/metric	[−74; 56]	By indicators
Med-DQI-2000, Gerber et al. (2000)⁵	×	(×)	South France	×	×			Ordered	162-item FFQ	Both	Ordinal	[0; 14]^b	Equally by indicators
Med-DQI-f-2000, Gerber et al. (2000)⁵	×	(×)	South France	×	×			Ordered	162-item FFQ	Both	Ordinal	[0; 16]^b	Equally by indicators
Med-DQI-2006, Gerber (2006)³¹	×	(×)	Mediterranean region (France)	×	×			Ordered	134-item FFQ	Both	Ordinal	[0; 14]^b	Equally by indicators
DQS-2002, Fitzgerald et al. (2002)³²	×		North America (Canada)	×	×	CH range		Ordered	24-h recall method	Nutrients	Dichotomous	[0; 17]	Equally by indicators
DQS-2007, Toft et al. (2007)³³	×		Denmark	×	×			Ordered	48-item FFQ (validated by 198-item FFQ)	FG	Ordinal	[0; 12]	Equally by indicators
DBS-2009, Kant et al. (2009)³⁴	×		USA	×	×			Ordered	124-item FFQ	FG	Ordinal	[0; 36]	Equally by indicators
DGAI-2005 Fogli-Cawley et al. (2006)³⁵	×		USA	×	×	FA range		Not ordered	126-item FFQ	Both	Ordinal	[0; 20]	Equally by indicators^d
DQINB-1999, Löwik et al. (1999)³⁶	×		Nether-lands	×	×			Not ordered	2-d food records	Nutrients	Dichotomous	[0; 5]	Equally by indicators
GFPI-2010, von Ruesten et al. (2010)³⁷	×		Germany	×	×			Ordered	148-item FFQ	FG	Metric	[0; 110]	Equally by indicators
HDI-1997, Huijbregts et al. (1997)³⁸	×		(Europe)	×	×	PR, CH, and PUFA range		Not ordered	Cross-check DHM	Both	Dichotomous	[0; 9]	Equally by indicators
HDI-2011, Cade et al. (2011)³⁹	×		(UK)	×	×	FA, CH, PR, and PUFA range		Not ordered	219-item FFQ	Both	Dichotomous	[0; 10]	Equally by indicators
HDI-2013, Berentzen et al. (2013)⁴⁰	×		(Nether-lands)	×	×	PR and PUFA range		Not ordered	FFQ (79 main foods/178 foods)	Both	Dichotomous	[0; 7]	Equally by indicators
HDS-2005, Maynard et al. (2005)⁴¹	×		UK	×	×	PR, CH, and PUFA range		Not ordered	113-item FFQ	Both	Dichotomous	[0; 12]	Equally by indicators
HEI-1995, Kennedy et al. (1995)⁴²	×		USA	×	×		×	Ordered	24-h recall + 2-d food record	Both	Metric	[0; 100]	Equally by indicators
HEI-2005, Guenther et al. (2008)⁴³	×		USA	×	×			Ordered	24-h recall	Both	Metric	[0; 100]	By indicators
HEI-2010, Guenther et al. (2013)⁴⁴	×		USA	×	×	Ratio (PUFA+MUFA)/SFA		Ordered	Not specified	Both	Metric	[0; 100]	By indicators
HEI-2015, National Cancer Institute⁴⁵	×		USA	×	×	Ratio (PUFA+MUFA)/SFA		Ordered	Not specified	Both	Metric	[0; 100]	By indicators
HEI-f-2000, McCullough et al. (2000)⁴⁶^,⁴⁷	×		USA	×	×		×	Ordered	131-item FFQ /116-item FFQ	Both	Metric	[0; 100]	Equally by indicators
AHEI-2002, McCullough et al. (2002)⁴⁸	×		USA	×	×	Ratio PUFA/SFA		Not ordered	≈130-item FFQ	Both	Metric^e	[2.5; 87.5]	Equally by indicators^e
AHEI-2010, Chiuve et al. (2012)⁴⁹	×		USA	×	×			Not ordered	FFQ	Both	Metric	[0; 110]	Equally by indicators
C-HEI-2005, Shatenstein et al. (2005)⁵⁰	×		Canada	×	×		×	Ordered	73-item FFQ	Both	Metric	[0; 100]	Equally by indicators^f
DQI-a-2010, Jaime et al. (2010)⁷⁴	×		Brazil	×	×		×	Ordered	24-h recall	Both	Metric	[0; 100]	Equally by indicators
HFI-2001, Osler et al. (2001)⁵¹	×		(Denmark)	×	×			Ordered	26-item FFQ	FG	Dichotomous	[0; 4]	Equally by indicators
HFNI-2006, Bazelmans et al. (2006)⁵²	×		Belgium	×	×	PR, CH, and PUFA range		Not ordered	1-d food record	Both	Dichotomous	[0; 8]	Equally by indicators
IMI-2011, Agnoli et al. (2011)⁵³		×	Italy	×	×			Ordered	140-, 188-, and 217-item FFQ	FG	Dichotomous	[0; 11]	Equally by indicators
MAI-1999, Alberti-Fidanza et al. (1999)⁵⁴		×	Mediterranean region (Italy)	×	×			Nested	DHM + weighted record method	FG	Ordinal/metric	[0; 99.99]	Equally per food groups
MAI-2006, Knoops et al. (2006)⁵⁵		×	(Europe)	×	×			Nested	DHM	Both	Metric	Not normalized	Equally by indicators
MEDAS-2011, Schröder et al. (2011)⁵⁶		×	(Spain)	×	×			Not ordered	MEDAS- questionnaire (screener)	FG	Dichotomous	[0; 14]	Equally by indicators
MEDAS-2013, Domínguez et al. (2013)⁵⁷		×	Mediterranean region (Spain)	×	×			Not ordered	136-item FFQ	FG	Dichotomous	[0; 13]	By indicators (the number of Bradford Hill criteria met by each component)
MDS-1995, Trichopoulou et al. (1995)⁵⁸		×	Mediterranean region (Greece)	×	×	Ratio MUFA/SFA		Not ordered	190-item FFQ	Both	Dichotomous	[0; 8]	Equally by indicators
MDS-2001, Haveman-Nies et al. (2001)⁵⁹		×	Western countries (USA, Europe)	×	×	Ratio MUFA/SFA		Not ordered	Modified DHM or FFQ	Both	Dichotomous	[0; 8]	Equally by indicators
MDS-2002, Haveman-Nies et al. (2002)⁶⁰		×	Western countries (Europe)	×	×	Ratio MUFA/SFA		Not ordered	Modified DHM	Both	Dichotomous	[0; 7]	Equally by indicators
MDS-2003, Trichopoulou et al. (2003)⁶¹		×	(Greece)	×	×	Ratio MUFA/SFA		Ordered	150-item FFQ	Both	Dichotomous	[0; 9]	Equally by indicators
MDS-2004, Knoops et al. (2004)⁶²		×	Western countries (Europe)	×	×	Ratio MUFA/SFA		Not ordered	DHM	Both	Dichotomous	[0; 8]	Equally by indicators
MDS-2011, Cade et al. (2011)³⁹		×	(UK)	×	×	Ratio MUFA/SFA		Ordered	219-item FFQ	Both	Dichotomous	[0; 10]	Equally by indicators
mMDS-2005, Trichopoulou et al. (2005)⁶³		×	Mediterranean and non-Mediterranean region (Europe)	×	×	Ratio (MUFA+PUFA)/SFA		Ordered	FFQ, FFQ + food record	Both	Dichotomous	[0; 9]	Equally by indicators
mMDS-2014, Yang et al. (2014)⁶⁴		×	Non-Mediterranean region (USA)	×	×			Not ordered	Lifestyle questionnaire with 15 questions on diet	FG	Ordinal	[0; 42]	Equally by indicators^f (+ wine scores)
aMED-2005, Fung et al. (2005)⁶⁵		×	(USA)	×	×	Ratio MUFA/SFA		Not ordered	140-item FFQ	Both	Dichotomous	[0; 9]	Equally by indicators
MDP-2002, Sanchez-Villegas et al. (2002)⁶⁶		×	Mediterranean region (Spain)	×	×	Ratio MUFA/SFA		Ordered	FFQ	Both	Metric	[0%; 100%]	Equally by indicators
MeDiet-2008, Sánchez-Taínta et al. (2008)⁶⁷		×	Mediterranean region (Spain)	×	×			Not ordered	14-item MeDiet questionnaire	FG	Dichotomous	[0; 14]	Equally by indicators
MS-2003, Goulet et al. (2003)⁶⁸		×	World-wide (French Canada)	×	×			Ordered	91-item FFQ	FG	Ordinal	[0; 44]	Equally by indicators
MSDPS-2009, Rumawas et al. (2009)⁶⁹		×	Non-Mediterranean region (USA)	×	×			Not ordered	126-item FFQ + further items possible	FG	Metric^g	[0; 100]	Equally by indicators
RCI-2008, Mazzocchi et al. (2008)⁷⁰	×		(World-wide)	×	×	FA, PR, and CH range		Ordered	Food Balance Sheets (FAO)	Both	Metric	[0; 1]	Alternative sets of weights
rMED-2009, Buckland et al. (2009)⁷¹		×	Mediterranean region (Spain)	×	×			Ordered	DHQ	FG	Ordinal^a	[0; 18]	Equally by indicators
rMED-2010, Buckland et al. (2010)⁷²		×	Mainly non-Mediterranean countries (Europe)	×	×			Ordered	DHQ, FFQ, or FFQ + food record	FG	Ordinal^a	[0; 18]	Equally by indicators
arMED-2013, Buckland et al. (2013)⁷³		×	Mainly non-Mediterranean countries (Europe)	×	×			Ordered	DHQ, FFQ, or FFQ + food record	FG	Ordinal	[0; 16]	Equally by indicators

The sign × indicates a fit with the respective construction criterion. Gray shading indicates preferable features of dietary quality indices. For balance only ranges of fat, protein, or carbohydrates as well as ranges of saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids or polyunsaturated fatty acids are considered. Recommendations include also recommendations by dietary guidelines or food pyramids.

Abbreviations: AHEI, Alternate Healthy Eating Index; aMED, Alternate Mediterranean Diet Score; BSDS, Baltic Sea Diet Score; C-HEI, Canadian Health Eating Index; CH, carbohydrates; CH-DQI, Chinese Diet Quality Index; D-HDI, Danish Healthy Diet Index; D-DQI, Danish Diet Quality Index; DBS, Dietary Behavior Score; DGAI, Dietary Guidelines for Americans Adherence Index; DHM, diet history method; DHQ, diet history questionnaire; DQI, Diet Quality Index; DQI-a, Diet Quality Index adjusted for energy requirement; DQI-I, Diet Quality Index-International; DQI-R, Diet Quality Index-Revised; DQI-SNR, Diet Quality Index-Swedish Nutrition Recommendation; DQINB, Dietary Quality Index Nutrition Based; DQS, Diet Quality Score; FA, fat; FAO, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; FG, food groups; FFQ, food frequency questionnaire; GFPI, German Food Pyramid Index; HDI, Healthy Diet Indicator; HDS, Healthy Diet Score; HEI, Healthy Eating Index; HEI-f, Health Eating Index-Frequency Questionnaire; HFI, Healthy Food Index; HFNI, Healthy Food and Nutrient Index; IMI, Italian Mediterranean Index; MAI, Mediterranean Adequacy Index; MDP, Mediterranean Dietary Pattern; MDS, Mediterranean Diet Score; Med-DQI, Mediterranean Diet Quality Index; MEDAS, Mediterranean Adherence Diet Screener; MeDiet, Mediterranean Food Pattern; mMDS, Modified Mediterranean Diet Score; MS, Mediterranean Score; MSDPS, Mediterranean-Style Dietary Pattern Score; MUFA, monounsaturated fatty acids; PR, proteins; PUFA, polyunsaturated fatty acids; RCI, Recommendation Compliance Index; rMED, Relative Mediterranean Diet; SFA, saturated fatty acids.

^{^a}

This is valid except for alcohol.

^{^b}

Higher scores indicate less healthy diets.

^{^c}

Thereby, total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol intakes are not part of a predefined moderation subindex.

^{^e}

This is valid except for multivitamin use.

^{^d}

This is valid except for half weights on low-fat dairy and low-fat meat indicators.

^{^f}

This is valid except for combined fruit and vegetable group with a doubled score.

^{^g}

This is valid except for olive oil.