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Precision and Bias of Food Frequency-based Measures of Fruit and Vegetable Intakes
Accurate assessment of fruit and vegetable intakes is critical for cancer control research and public health surveillance. This report examines the bias and precision of two commonly used food frequency questionnaire methods to assess fruit and vegetable intakes: ( a ) the 5 A Day method, based on s...
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Published in: | Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention biomarkers & prevention, 2000-09, Vol.9 (9), p.939-944 |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | Accurate assessment of fruit and vegetable intakes is critical for
cancer control research and public health surveillance. This report
examines the bias and precision of two commonly used food frequency
questionnaire methods to assess fruit and vegetable intakes:
( a ) the 5 A Day method, based on seven items; and
( b ) the summation method, based on adding total servings
of all fruit and vegetable items on a comprehensive (100+ item) food
frequency questionnaire. Data are from three studies in which 24-h
dietary recalls, food records, or serum carotenoid concentrations could
be used as criterion measures ( n = 260, 1031, and
342). Studies differed markedly in distributions of participants’ age,
race/ethnicity, sex, and socioeconomic status. Mean intakes of total
fruit and vegetables based on the 5 A Day method were consistently
lower than those from either the summation method (3.11
versus 4.06), 24-h recalls (3.32 versus
4.07), or food records (3.11 versus 3.46; all
P < 0.01), and this was due primarily to
underestimates of vegetable intake. Correlations of the 5 A Day and
summation measures with all criterion measures were similar and were
consistently higher for fruit (range, 0.33–0.57) than for vegetables
(range, 0.24–0.32). These results, which were consistent across
diverse participant samples, suggest that the 5 A Day method yields
both biased and imprecise measures of vegetable intake and that
research to improve this measure is needed. |
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ISSN: | 1055-9965 1538-7755 |