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Using a short food frequency questionnaire to estimate dietary calcium consumption: a tool for patient education
S J Blalock1, S S Currey, R F DeVellis
1Thurston Arthritis Research Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
Objective:
To develop a short food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) assessing calcium intake and a prediction equation for estimating total calcium intake from the short FFQ.
Methods:
Data were collected from 536 women via mailed questionnaires at 3 time points. Stepwise regression analyses were used to identify those foods and beverages included in the Black Health Habits and History Questionnaire (HHHQ) that explained the most variance in participants' dietary calcium intake. A prediction equation was developed to estimate total calcium intake based only on information from the foods/beverages identified.
Results:
Calcium obtained from 15 foods/beverages explained 97.2% of the variance in total calcium intake. The mean absolute difference between total calcium intake estimated from the 15 foods/beverages and the full HHHQ was less than 50 mg at each time point.
Conclusion:
Findings suggest that a short FFQ can provide estimates of total dietary calcium consumption comparable to the full Block HHHQ.