A comparative validation of a child food frequency questionnaire using red blood cell membrane fatty acids

• Published in: European journal of clinical nutrition Vol. 66; no. 7; pp. 825 - 829
• Main Authors: Burrows, T, Berthon, B, Garg, M L, Collins, C E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01-07-2012; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 692/700/1720; 692/700/478; Biological and medical sciences; Body Mass Index; Body size; Body weight; Cell membranes; Child; Child, Preschool; Children; Children & youth; Chromatography, Gas; Clinical Nutrition; Correlation coefficient; Correlation coefficients; Diet; Diet Surveys; Dietary Fats - blood; Dietary intake; Eicosapentaenoic Acid - administration & dosage; Eicosapentaenoic Acid - blood; Epidemiology; Erythrocyte Membrane - chemistry; Erythrocytes; Fasting; Fatty acids; Fatty Acids, Omega-3 - administration & dosage; Fatty Acids, Omega-3 - blood; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Female; Food; Food intake; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gas chromatography; Humans; Internal Medicine; Linoleic acid; Linoleic Acid - administration & dosage; Linoleic Acid - blood; Male; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Membranes; Metabolic Diseases; Nutrition; Nutrition Assessment; Nutrition surveys; original-article; Overweight; Overweight - blood; Parents; Pediatrics; Populations; Product/Service Evaluations; Public Health; Questionnaires; Reference Values; Statistical methods; Statistics, Nonparametric; Surveys and Questionnaires - standards; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Australia; dietary assessment; children; food frequency; validation; Human; Validation; Red blood cell; Lipids; Metabolic diseases; Fatty acids; Feeding; Blood cell; Diet; Frequency; Membrane; Child; Food Frequency Questionnaire; Comparative study; Food
• ISSN: 0954-3007; 1476-5640
• DOI: 10.1038/ejcn.2012.26

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES:
There are limited validated tools available for the assessment of dietary intake in pediatric populations. This report describes a comparative validation study of selected fatty acid intakes in children assessed by food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), compared with erythrocyte membrane fatty acids.
SUBJECTS/METHODS:
Overall, 46 overweight and 47 healthy-weight children aged 5–12 years (mean±SD, 9.1±1.3years, body mass index 20.5±4.0) were recruited; dietary fatty acid intakes assessed by parent report using a 135-item semi-quantitative FFQ, were compared with selected child erythrocyte membrane fatty acids assessed from fasting samples using gas chromatography. Spearman's rank correlation coefficients were calculated between fatty acid intake estimates (% of energy) and erythrocyte membrane concentrations (%mol/mol).
RESULTS:
Significant correlations were found between dietary and erythrocyte eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) concentration (
r
=0.24,
P
<0.05) with a statistical trend for total omega three (∑n-3) fatty acids (
r
=0.22,
P
=0.06) and linoleic acid (
r
=0.32,
P
=0.07) in the healthy-weight children only.
CONCLUSION:
Parental report of selected child fatty acid intakes using an FFQ can be used to provide an estimate of child intake of EPA, but further work is required to quantify this relationship for other fatty acids and in other populations.