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'Boden Food Plate': Novel Interactive Web-based Method for the Assessment of Dietary Intake
Published on: September 18, 2018
Development, validation, and use of a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire for assessing protein intake in
Ayako Morita1, Kazumi Natsuhara, Eriko Tomitsuka
1Department of Human Ecology, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan; Department of Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, 113-0034, Japan.
Objectives:
The aim of this article was to develop a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and evaluate its validity to estimate habitual protein intake, and investigate current dietary protein intakes of Papua New Guinea (PNG) Highlanders.
Methods:
A 32-item FFQ was developed and tested among 135 healthy male and female volunteers. The FFQ-estimated daily total and animal protein intakes were compared with biomarkers and 3-day Weighed Food Records (WFR) by correlation analyses, Bland-Altman plot analyses and joint classification analyses.
Results:
The FFQ-estimated total protein intake significantly correlated with urinary nitrogen in the first morning void after adjusting urinary creatinine concentration (r = 0.28, P < 0.01) and the FFQ-estimated animal protein intake significantly correlated with the hair δ(15) N (Spearman's r = 0.34, P < 0.001). The limits of agreement were ±2.39 Z-score residuals for total protein intake and ±2.19 Z-score for animal protein intake, and intra-individual differences increased as protein intake increased. The classification into the same and adjacent quartiles was 66.0% for total protein intake and 73.6% for animal protein intake. Median daily total and animal protein intake estimates from the FFQ and the 3-day WFR showed a good agreement with differences of 0.2 and 4.9 g, respectively. None of the studied communities in the PNG Highlands met the biologically required protein intake; although the community closer to an urban center showed higher protein intake than the more remote communities.
Conclusions:
The newly developed 32-item FFQ for PNG Highlanders is applicable for evaluation of protein intake at the individual level. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 27:349-357, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

