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Development and Validation of a Short Questionnaire for Estimating the Intake of Zinc

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Abstract

Zinc is an essential nutrient required for numerous metabolic functions. The aim of the present study was to develop a zinc-specific food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and to determine its relative validity. A 74-item FFQ was designed for the measurement of zinc intake. Food items were included in the FFQ if their zinc content was >0.5 mg/100 g, and the food item contributed >5% of the recommended dietary intake. Female subjects (n = 22) were recruited to complete the questionnaire in addition to maintaining a weighed food record for 7 days. Mean intake of zinc obtained from the weighed records (8.8 ± 2.3 mg/day; mean ± SD) was significantly lower than that obtained from the FFQ (10.5 ± 3.1 mg/day; P < 0.01). Ranked zinc intakes obtained from the two instruments were significantly correlated (r s = 0.81, P < 0.001). Evaluation of progressively shortened versions of the FFQ, containing 23–61 food items and representing 60–90% of the contribution to total zinc intake, yielded correspondingly decreasing magnitudes of zinc intake, but the rank correlation with the weighed records was significant (P < 0.01). Rank correlations and analysis of plots from Bland–Altman analyses suggest that a shortened 37-item FFQ has comparable validity to the full FFQ. A shortened FFQ is likely to produce lower demands on the interviewer and/or respondent when assessing zinc intake.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Discipline of Nutrition and Metabolism, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences G08, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Samir Samman & Jennifer Herbert

  2. Department of Statistics, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW, 2109, Australia

    Peter Petocz

  3. School of Health Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia

    Philippa M. Lyons-Wall

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  1. Samir Samman
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  2. Jennifer Herbert
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  3. Peter Petocz
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  4. Philippa M. Lyons-Wall
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Correspondence to Samir Samman.

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Samman, S., Herbert, J., Petocz, P. et al. Development and Validation of a Short Questionnaire for Estimating the Intake of Zinc. Biol Trace Elem Res 134, 226–234 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-009-8466-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-009-8466-y

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