A food frequency questionnaire can detect pregnancy-related changes in diet.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) can detect changes in dietary intake before pregnancy to mid-pregnancy relative to a 4-day food record.


METHODS
FFQs and 4-day, weighed food records (4DRs) were completed during similar time intervals before pregnancy and again near mid-pregnancy by women served by a large health maintenance organization in the Minneapolis-St Paul, Minn, area. The outcome of interest was change in the intake of energy and 16 nutrients. Participants were members of the Diana Project, a prospective study of relationships among prepregnancy and pregnancy nutritional and other exposures and reproductive outcomes. Fifty-six (51%) of the eligible women completed the study.


METHODS
Well-educated, healthy, white women.


METHODS
Spearman rank order correlations.


RESULTS
Mean energy and nutrient intake levels estimated using the 4DR were generally higher than those estimated using the FFQ. Correlations between change in energy and nutrient intakes measured by the 4DR and FFQ ranged from .75 for vitamin C to .02 for cholesterol and averaged .48.


CONCLUSIONS
Comparisons with 4DRs indicate that the FFQ used in this study is appropriate for obtaining reliable estimates of prepregnancy to mid-pregnancy changes in intake of energy and a number of nutrients in similar groups of women.
Brown
J E
JE
School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55454-1015, USA.
Buzzard
I M
IM
Jacobs
D R
DR
Hannan
P J
PJ
Kushi
L H
LH
Barosso
G M
GM
Schmid
L A
LA
D000328:Adult; D004032:Diet; D015930:Diet Records; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002149:Energy Intake; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000502:physiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D004041:Dietary Fats