Food Frequency Questionnaires: Carmen Pérez Rodrigo, Javier Aranceta, Gemma Salvador and Gregorio Varela-Moreiras
Food Frequency Questionnaires: Carmen Pérez Rodrigo, Javier Aranceta, Gemma Salvador and Gregorio Varela-Moreiras
Food Frequency Questionnaires: Carmen Pérez Rodrigo, Javier Aranceta, Gemma Salvador and Gregorio Varela-Moreiras
3):49-56
ISSN 0212-1611 • CODEN NUHOEQ
S.V.R. 318
Pública de Catalunya. Departamento de Salut. Generalitat de Catalunya. 4Department of Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences,
Faculty of Pharmacy, CEU San Pablo University; Madrid. 5Spanish Nutrition Foundation (FEN), Madrid (SPAIN).
49
Components of FFQs
Frequency of consumption
The main components of FFQs are the food list, the
frequency of consumption in time units and the portion Frequency of consumption is assessed by a multiple
size consumed of each item. response grid or independent questions asking respon-
dents to estimate how often a particular food or bevera-
ge is consumed2,3. Frequency categories range from ne-
The food list ver or less than once per month up to 6 or more times per
day and respondents have to choose one of these options.
The food list should be clear, concise, structured Most FFQs collect data using nine possible responses.
and organized in a systematic way2,3. It can be newly Various answer choices have been used to improve data
designed specifically for the study or can be modified quality and reduce the burden on the subjects13.
from an existing instrument, but in that case it must be The reference period for which the frequency of
adapted and validated for the study population. FFQs consumption is asked can be variable, but usually fo-
Table I
Selected validation studies of FFQs: population, items, procedure and reference method
foods eaten less often or for foods perceived as ‘heal- Various statistical methods employing measure-
thy’ such as fruit and vegetables. There is some evi- ment error models and energy adjustment are used to
dence that over-estimation increase with the length of assess the validity of FFQs but also to adjust estima-
the food list3,26-28. tes of relative risks for disease outcomes6,19. Analy-
Validation studies of various FFQs using biomar- ses comparing relative risk estimation from FFQs to
kers have found large underestimates of self-repor- dietary records in prospective cohort studies indicate
ted energy intake and some underestimation of pro- that observed relationships using an FFQ are severely
tein intake. Correlations of FFQs and the biomarkers attenuated, thereby obscuring associations that might
ranged from 0.1 to 0.5 for energy and from 0.2 to 0.7 exist29. Controversy about error in FFQs has raised a
for protein26,28. These results suggest that the measu- debate considering alternative methods of collecting
rement error associated with FFQs is larger than was dietary data in large-scale prospective studies. In parti-
previously estimated. cular, the association between dietary fat consumption
Table II
Advantages and limitations of Food Frequency Methodology
Advantages Limitations
Can be self-administered Marked frequency of consumption and portion size
may not represent usual intake of respondent
Requires certain literacy and cognitive skills
Often incomplete data is collected
Can be optically scanned Effort and time consuming instrument design
Modest respondent burden Depends on the respondents ability to describe diet
Relatively low cost for large scale studies Relatively low cost for large scale studies
May be a better representation of usual dietary patterns than only Particularly complex for children and elderly people
a few days of observation
Instrument design can be based on population data Memory of diet in the past may be biased by present diet
Does not influence dietary behaviour Sometimes limited precision in estimates and
quantifying food portion sizes
Classify individuals in food consumption categories
Does not require deeply trained interviewers
Easy to code and viable for automated processing if closed-ended
Web-based administered improve the quality of collected data. Requires computer and internet access
Can add help aids, additional models and information. Requires web navigation skills
Persist systematic errors inherent to the method
Response bias
Security risk for study data