Validation of 2 Brief Fruit and Vegetable Assessment Instruments Among Third-Grade Students

To evaluate the validity of 2 brief instruments to estimate fruit and vegetable (FV) intake among third-grade children.

Children from an elementary school and a community center (n = 107) completed 2 retrospective questions for FV intake (fruit and vegetable questionnaire [FVQ]) and a food record (A Day in the Life Questionnaire [DILQ]) to estimate FV intake. Agreement between intake based on these instruments and 3 24-hour dietary recalls was determined.

Disattenuated Pearson correlation coefficients ranged from 0.40 to 0.69 for FV intake; however, the low reliability of multiple 24-hour recalls may have inflated the strength of the correlations. Altman-Bland difference plots suggested that the FVQ overestimated FV intake whereas the DILQ overestimated fruit and underestimated vegetable intake. Limits of agreement were wide for both tools, indicating poor overall agreement.

The FVQ and DILQ were not valid instruments to evaluate FV consumption under current study conditions. Other assessment methods and instruments should be considered for young children.