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Vegetable and Fruit Food Frequency Questionnaire Serves as a Proxy for Quantified Intake

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Abstract

Background: Public health practitioners need valid tools to survey trends in dietary intake. The Rapid Risk Factor Surveillance System (RRFSS) includes an optional six-item vegetable and fruit intake food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) module. Our objectives were 1) to compare reported vegetable and fruit consumption from the FFQ to quantified servings (portions) defined by Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating and ascertained by a reference method, and 2) to compare the FFQ with the reference method for their classification of the proportion of respondents consuming five or more servings of vegetables and fruit per day.

Methods: Dietitians administered 24-hour recalls to each of 174 adult respondents who had completed the FFQ as part of the RRFSS. Recalls were conducted over the telephone on three separate occasions using an adaptation of the multiple pass method.

Results: The mean total intake of vegetables and fruit for the group was 4.6 times/day from the FFQ versus 4.8 servings/day from the recalls (paired t-test; p=0.92). Thirty-seven percent of respondents were classified as consuming five or more times/day by the FFQ versus 35% by the 24-hour recall servings.

Conclusion: The FFQ tool can be used as a proxy for quantified intake of vegetable and fruit consumption.

Résumé

Contexte: Les intervenants en santé publique ont besoin d’outils valables pour évaluer les tendances de la consommation alimentaire. Actuellement, le Système rapide de surveillance des facteurs de risque (SRSFR) inclut un module facultatif de six questions sur la fréquence de consommation (QFC) des fruits et légumes. Nos objectifs consistaient 1) à évaluer si le QFC pouvait être un substitut raisonnable aux portions mesurées et 2) à comparer pour chaque méthode la proportion de l’échantillon consommant en moyenne au moins les cinq portions par jour recommandées dans le Guide alimentaire canadien pour manger sainement.

Méthode: Des diététistes ont fait remplir des feuilles de rappel des aliments ingérés pendant les 24 dernières heures à chacun des 174 répondants adultes qui ont rempli le QFC dans le cadre du SRSFR. Trois exercices de rappel ont été administrés par téléphone en utilisant une version modifiée de la méthode en plusieurs parcours (Multiple-Pass Method) utilisée par le département américain de l’Agriculture.

Résultats: Selon la méthode des rappels, la moyenne de la consommation totale de légumes et de fruits pour le groupe était de 4,8 portions/jour et n’était pas significativement différente des 4,6 occasions de consommer/jour obtenues par le biais du QFC (test t jumelé, p=0,92). Trente-cinq pour cent des répondants ont été classés comme consommateurs d’au moins cinq portions par jour selon la méthode des rappels, et 37 % selon le QFC.

Conclusion: Les résultats indiquent que le module QFC peut être utilisé comme un substitut à la consommation mesurée.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Marie M. Traynor MSc, RD (Former student)

  2. Halton Region Health Department, Halton, ON, Canada

    Philippa H. Holowaty PhD

  3. Department of National Defence, Force Health Protection, CF Health Services Group, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Debra J. Reid PhD, RD

  4. School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, McGill University, 21,111 Lakeshore, Ste Anne de Bellevue, QC, H9X 3V9, Canada

    Katherine Gray-Donald PhD (Associate Professor)

Authors
  1. Marie M. Traynor MSc, RD
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  2. Philippa H. Holowaty PhD
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  3. Debra J. Reid PhD, RD
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  4. Katherine Gray-Donald PhD
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Correspondence to Katherine Gray-Donald PhD.

Additional information

Source of Funding: Funding for this work was provided by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care through the administration of The Rapid Risk Factor Surveillance System Working Group, Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

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Traynor, M.M., Holowaty, P.H., Reid, D.J. et al. Vegetable and Fruit Food Frequency Questionnaire Serves as a Proxy for Quantified Intake. Can J Public Health 97, 286–290 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03405605

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