Food consumption scale validation in VAMOS Program: a proposal to assess eating behavior changes in Brazil

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Nutrition Science
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Assessing eating behavior is crucial for public health interventions.
• Community-based programs require validated tools for monitoring dietary changes.
• The VAMOS Program aimed to improve health behaviors in Brazilian primary care settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate the Frequency Consumption Scale (FCS) for assessing eating behavior.
• To establish cut-off points for the FCS to measure changes over time.
• To evaluate the FCS's utility in nutrition program evaluation.

Main Methods:

• Community intervention study with 458 adults in Brazilian primary care.
• Utilized a 12-question food frequency consumption questionnaire.
• Employed exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (EFA) and Item Response Theory (IRT) modeling.

Main Results:

• EFA revealed a two-factor structure: three healthy (vegetables, fruits) and three unhealthy (sugary drinks, sweets, meal replacements) eating items.
• IRT modeling indicated daily consumption of healthy items and non-weekly consumption of unhealthy items.
• The four proposed FCS categories demonstrated responsiveness to changes over time.

Conclusions:

• The FCS is a valid and effective tool for nutrition program evaluation.
• The FCS, with six items, can effectively attribute behavior change in primary care users.
• The validated FCS provides a reliable method for monitoring dietary habits in public health initiatives.