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Assessing Peanut Consumption in a Population of Mothers and Their Children in the UK
Aikaterini Sofianou-Katsoulis1, David Mesher, Peter Sasieni
1Institute of Child Health, M.Asias 76, Gr-11527, Athens, Greece. St Mary's Hospital, Paediatric Department, QEQM Building, Praed Street, W2 1NY, London, UK.
Insights
This study validated a 50-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for assessing peanut consumption. The FFQ reliably categorizes individuals by peanut intake, proving accurate for peanut allergy research.
Area of Science:
- Allergy research
- Nutritional epidemiology
- Pediatric nutrition
Background:
- Food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) are crucial for studying peanut consumption and allergy development.
- Validating an FFQ is essential for accurate peanut protein sensitization research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To validate a 50-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ).
- To assess the FFQ's utility in peanut protein sensitization studies.
Main Methods:
- 38 mother-child pairs participated in a pediatric clinic study.
- Dietary intake was recorded using a 7-day food diary (7DFDR) and a recall-based FFQ.
- Data collection involved prospective recording and retrospective recall over a 6-month period.
Main Results:
- 33 mothers completed both the 7DFDR and FFQ.
- Individual-level variations existed, but group-level agreement between 7DFDR and FFQ was high.
- Accurate consumption patterns for peanut and control foods were observed.
Conclusions:
- The validated FFQ reliably differentiates population groups by peanut consumption levels.
- The FFQ accurately reflects adult and child peanut intake, particularly at low consumption levels.
- The FFQ also serves as a reliable measure for other food consumption patterns.
Background:
Food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) are essential tools to investigate the relationship between peanut consumption and the development of peanut allergy. The aim was to validate a 50-item FFQ for use in peanut protein sensitization studies.
Methods:
There were 38 mother-child pairs visiting a pediatric clinic of a London hospital included. Mothers recorded their own and their child's diet, using a 7 day food diary (7DFDR), completed prospectively over week. Six months later, they tried to recall the consumption of food items for the index week on a FFQ.
Results:
Of these, 33 out of 38 mothers completed both the 7DFDR and the recall FFQ. Although there was considerable variation at the individual level between the 2 tools, there was extremely close agreement between the mean 7DFDR response and the FFQ when considering groups of fives with similar FFQ levels. Agreement was apparent on both peanut and other control foods consumption patterns.
Conclusion:
The FFQ will reliably divide the population into groups with markedly different peanut consumption levels. It accurately reflects true adults and children peanut consumption, especially at low levels of peanut consumption, as it was validated against the gold standard, the 7DFDR. It also provides a good measure of other foods consumption.
