Food Frequency QuestionnairesBY:

Noura Al-Ghilan , Ohood Al-Mubarak , Sara Al-Babtain

King Saud UniversityCollege of Applied Medical SciencesDepartment of Clinical NutritionNutritional AssessmentMs. Wa’ad Al-Fawaz

• Over the past two decades, food frequency

questionnaires have become a well-accepted

method for quantitative assessment usual nutrient

intake.

• Many question remain about the accuracy &

appropriateness of FFQ's especially when more

precise estimates of actual food intake are desired.

HISTORY:

CONT,

• There are, however, many practical

advantages to FFQ's that motivate their use in

a number of specific research applications.

• Research to improve the validity of FFQ's &

modify their characteristics for specific research

questions is well warranted.

Food Frequency Questionnaires

• Assess energy and/or nutrient intake by

determining how frequently a person consumes a

limited number of foods that are major sources of

nutrients or of a particular dietary component in

question.

CONT,

• The questionnaires consist of a list of

approximately 150 or fewer individual foods or

food groups that are important contributors to the

population's intake of energy and nutrients.

• Respondents indicate how many times a day,

week, month, or year that they usually consume

the foods.

There are three epidemiological study

types for which FFQ's are necessary:

• In case-control study.

• In very large longitudinal study.

• Large intervention study.

Sample Food Frequency Questionnaire for Adolescents Food Frequency Form. How often do you eat the following foods? (Put an “X” on the line.)

Seldom Never

times/week

Once/day 2-3

once/day More than

Milk

Cheese, yogurt

Meat, fish, poultry

eggs

Peanut butter, nuts

Dry beans, peas, tofu,

soy

Bread

Coffee, tea

Fast food

Some questionnaires, known as "screeners" have

been designed to assess intake of individual

nutrients or food components, such as vitamin A,

fat, or calcium, for studies investigating the

relationships between diet and such conditions as

cancer and cardiovascular disease.

13-items screening questionnaire for fat intake

Limitations StrengthsMay not represent usual foods or portion

sizes chosen by respondentsCan be self-administered

Intake data can be compromised when multiple foods are grouped with single

listings

Machine readable

Modest demand on respondents

Depends on ability of subject to describe diet

Relatively inexpensive for large sample sizes

May be more representative of usual intake than a few days of diet records

Design can be based on large population data.

Strength and Limitations of Food Frequency Questionnaires:

THANK YOU