Comparison between two assessment tools for fruit and vegetable intake relative to the 24-h recall

The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity of methods assessing fruit and vegetable (FV) intake among Brazilian users of the Primary Attention Health Care Program.

The present study included 299 participants (age ≥20 y) from a representative sample from a randomized controlled community trial performed as part of a health promotion program in a Brazilian metropolis. All participants completed three methods for the assessment of FV consumption: brief questionnaire of FV (QBrief-FV), food frequency questionnaire of FV, and a 24-h dietary recall. Medians and terciles of FV consumption were compared. Spearman's coefficient, κ, and Wilcoxon's test stratified by sociodemographic and nutritional characteristics were calculated.

The population sample was composed of 86.6% women (median age 57 y; range 48-65). Stronger correlations were observed for the evaluation of fruit consumption according to QBrief-FV (r = 0.437) and the median values were comparable to those presented by the 24-h dietary recall (P ≥ 0.05). This comparison also resulted in a higher proportion of terciles with exact concordance (46.1%). All test methods overestimated the consumption of combined FV.

None of the methods tested was very accurate for the assessment of FV consumption. However, the strongest correlation was found for the QBrief-FV evaluation of fruit intake, indicating that it is an appropriate tool for the investigation of fruit consumption.