Comparing two simplified questionnaire‐based methods with 24‐h recalls for estimating fortifiable wheat flour and oil consumption in Mandaluyong City, Philippines

• Published in: Maternal and child nutrition 2023-07, Vol.19 (3), p.e13486-n/a
• Main Authors: Friesen, Valerie M., Miller, Jody C., Bitantes, Ryan B., Reario, Maria F. D., Arnold, Charles D., Mbuya, Mduduzi N. N., Neufeld, Lynnette M., Wieringa, Frank T., Stormer, Ame, Capanzana, Mario V., Cabanilla, Carl V. D., Lietz, Georg, Haskell, Marjorie J., Engle‐Stone, Reina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Children; Children & youth; Data collection; Decision making; Diet; dietary intake assessment; Flour; Food; Food consumption; food fortification; food frequency questionnaire; Households; Individual differences; Methods; Mothers; Oil consumption; Original; Petroleum; quantitative methods; Questionnaires; Vitamin A; Wheat; women of childbearing age
• ISSN: 1740-8695; 1740-8709
• DOI: 10.1111/mcn.13486

Information on fortifiable food consumption is essential to design, monitor and evaluate fortification programmes, yet detailed methods like 24‐h recalls (24HRs) that provide such data are rarely conducted. Simplified questionnaire‐based methods exist but their validity compared with 24HRs has not been shown. We compared two simplified methods (i.e., a household food acquisition and purchase questionnaire [FAPQ] and a 7‐day semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire [SQ‐FFQ]) against 24HRs for estimating fortifiable food consumption. We assessed the consumption of fortifiable wheat flour and oil using a FAPQ and, for wheat flour only, a 7‐day SQ‐FFQ and compared the results against 24HRs. The participants included children 12−18 months (n = 123) and their mothers 18−49 years selected for a study assessing child vitamin A intake and status in Mandaluyong City, Philippines. For fortifiable wheat flour, the FAPQ estimated considerably lower mean intakes compared to 24HRs for children and mothers (2.2 vs. 14.1 g/day and 5.1 vs. 42.3 g/day, respectively), while the SQ‐FFQ estimated slightly higher mean intakes (15.7 vs. 14.1 g/day and 51.5 vs. 42.3 g/day, respectively). For fortifiable oil, the FAPQ estimated considerably higher mean intakes compared to 24HRs for children and mothers (4.6 vs. 1.8 g/day and 12.5 vs. 6.1 g/day, respectively). The SQ‐FFQ, but not the FAPQ, generated useful information on fortifiable food consumption that can inform fortification programme design and monitoring decisions in the absence of more detailed individual‐level data. Potential adaptations to improve the FAPQ, such as additional questions on foods prepared away from home and usage patterns, merit further research. Fortifiable food consumption data are essential to design, monitor and evaluate fortification programmes, yet 24‐h recalls (24HRs) that provide such data are rarely conducted. Simplified questionnaire‐based methods exist but their validity compared with 24HRs has not been shown. We compared two simplified methods (i.e., a household food acquisition and purchase questionnaire [FAPQ] and a 7‐day semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire [SQ‐FFQ]) against 24HRs for estimating fortifiable food consumption among Filipino children 12−18 months and their mothers and found that the SQ‐FFQ generated useful information on fortifiable wheat flour while the FAPQ systematically underestimated wheat flour and overestimated oil. Key messages Fortifiable (i.e., industrially