Cited by 151Nutritional Studies and DietNutrition, Health and Food BehaviorNutrition, Genetics, and Disease

Online dietary intake estimation: the Food4Me food frequency questionnaire

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Forster, Hannah, Fallaize, Rosalind, Gallagher, Caroline, O’Donovan, Clare B, Woolhead, Clara, Walsh, Marianne C, Macready, Anna L, Lovegrove, Julie A +4 more·2014·Journal of Medical Internet Research

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Dietary assessment methods are important tools for nutrition research. Online dietary assessment tools have the potential to become invaluable methods of assessing dietary intake because, compared with traditional methods, they have many advantages including the automatic storage of input data and the immediate generation of nutritional outputs. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop an online food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for dietary data collection in the "Food4Me" study and to compare this with the validated European Prospective Investigation of Cancer (EPIC) Norfolk printed FFQ. METHODS: The Food4Me FFQ used in this analysis was developed to consist of 157 food items. Standardized color photographs were incorporated in the development of the Food4Me FFQ to facilitate accurate quantification of the portion size of each food item. Participants were recruited in two centers (Dublin, Ireland and Reading, United Kingdom) and each received the online Food4Me FFQ and the printed EPIC-Norfolk FFQ in random order. Participants completed the Food4Me FFQ online and, for most food items, participants were requested to choose their usual serving size among seven possibilities from a range of portion size pictures. The level of agreement between the two methods was evaluated for both nutrient and food group intakes using the Bland and Altman method and classification into quartiles of daily intake. Correlations were calculated for nutrient and food group intakes. RESULTS: A total of 113 participants were recruited with a mean age of 30 (SD 10) years (40.7% male, 46/113; 59.3%, 67/113 female). Cross-classification into exact plus adjacent quartiles ranged from 77% to 97% at the nutrient level and 77% to 99% at the food group level. Agreement at the nutrient level was highest for alcohol (97%) and lowest for percent energy from polyunsaturated fatty acids (77%). Crude unadjusted correlations for nutrients ranged between .43 and .86. Agreement at the food group level was highest for "other fruits" (eg, apples, pears, oranges) and lowest for "cakes, pastries, and buns". For food groups, correlations ranged between .41 and .90. CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrate that the online Food4Me FFQ has good agreement with the validated printed EPIC-Norfolk FFQ for assessing both nutrient and food group intakes, rendering it a useful tool for ranking individuals based on nutrient and food group intakes.

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Authors
Forster, H., Fallaize, R., Gallagher, C., O’Donovan, C. B., Woolhead, C., Walsh, M. C., Macready, A. L., Lovegrove, J. A., Mathers, J. C., Gibney, M. J., Brennan, L., & Gibney, E. R.
Affiliations
  • University College Dublin (IE)
  • University of Reading (GB)
  • Newcastle University (GB)
Corresponding author
Gibney, Eileen R
Venue
Journal of Medical Internet Research
Published
2014-06-09
Volume
16
Issue
6
Pages
e150
ISSN
1438-8871 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2167856883
Cited by
151
References
52
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 1
FWCI
18.49
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Journal of Medical Internet Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • CentAUR (University of Reading) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • Research Portal (Queen's University Belfast) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • University of Hertfordshire Research Archive (University of Hertfordshire) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • University of Hertfordshire Research Archive (University of Hertfordshire) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Newcastle University ePrints (Newcastle Univesity)
Funders
  • NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre (BH111030)
  • FP7 Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Biotechnology (265494)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Nutrition, Genetics, and Disease
Keywords
dietary assessment, portion size estimation, color photographs, food group intake, young adults, questionnaire validation, polyunsaturated fatty acids, alcohol consumption, energy intake
MeSH terms
Adult, Energy Intake, Diet, Diet Surveys, Female, Food, United Kingdom, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Prospective Studies, Surveys and Questionnaires, Reproducibility of Results, Diet Records

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