Food preferences and their "decision contexts" as predictors of dietary pattern

The Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) is the usual method for estimating dietary intake in epidemiological studies. However, investigations focused only on nutrient and food intake does not show the reason why, where or how people choose certain foods and reject others. Food preference and its choosing decision helps to explain more accurately why people eat certain foods and how this freedom of choice is implemented. Thus, we decided to design and validate a Food Preference Questionnaire (FPQ) to be applied in adults under nutritional epidemiological studies. This FPQ was applied to 60 adults of both sexes, who lived in Córdoba, Argentina, and in the nearby cities of the Greater Córdoba region. The validity of the FPQ was estimated through the Spearman correlation coefficient and calculated by using SPSS 17.0, and the determination coefficient was also estimated. The correlation between the number of subjects who indicated a preference for a particular food or meal, and its frequency of consumption gave a result of rs=0.5 (p less 0.1), whereas the determination coefficient had a value of r2= 0.25. Thus, the dietary patterns of adult population from Córdoba were estimated by assessing food preferences. The biological, psychological and socio-cultural aspects of the food decision context, in addition to their complex relations, may contribute to understand better the choice of food intake hence precluding the role of dietary practices in health and disease.