Development and validation of a food frequency questionnaire for assessing nutrient intake during childhood in Jordan

Introduction: assessing the relationship between childhood diseases and nutrient intake is a crucial issue that requires valid and reliable dietary assessment tools in this period of physical and physiological development. Objective: the present study aimed to develop and validate a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) to assess nutrient intake in Jordanian children. Methods: in this validation study, nutrient intake as obtained from a culturally sensitive quantitative FFQ was compared to nutrient intake as assessed by four 24-hour dietary recalls (24-HRs) between September 2017 and May 2018. One hundred and thirty-six children aged 6-18 years were enrolled from selected schools in Amman, Jordan. Children or their caregivers were asked to complete the FFQ during an initial face-to-face interview. Four 24-HRs were collected weekly over one month. Of these children, 50 also took part in the reproducibility phase, which involved a repeat completion of the FFQ within 1 month. Results: the intraclass correlation coefficients between the two FFQs ranged from 0.5 for trans-fats to 0.96 for calcium. Correlation coefficients between dietary intake estimates derived from the FFQ and 24-HRs were significant at p < 0.05. The highest correlation was detected for energy (0.8) while the lowest was identified for trans-fatty acids (0.04). For all nutrients, over 60 % of participants were classified into the same or adjacent quartile of crude and adjusted intake. Bland-Altman plots showed a satisfactory agreement between the two methods for energy and proteins. Conclusion: the FFQ showed a good reproducibility and a reasonable relative validity for most nutrients.