Fruit and vegetable assessment: performance of 2 new short instruments and a food frequency questionnaire.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the ability of 2 new short assessment instruments and a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) to measure intake of fruit and vegetables. The "All-Day" screener asks frequency and portion size questions about 9 food items. The "By-Meal" screener is similar, except that it asks about 2 of those 9 food items in terms of mealtime.


METHODS
Survey participants completed 4 telephone-administered 24-hour dietary recalls over 1 year, a self-administered FFQ 1 to 2 months later, and 1 of 2 self-administered screeners after an additional 7 months.


METHODS
Participating were 202 men and 260 women aged 20 to 70 years living throughout the United States.


METHODS
Fruit and vegetable intakes measured by each screener and the FFQ were compared with true usual intake based on a measurement error model with 24-hour dietary recalls as the reference instrument.


RESULTS
Estimates of median daily servings of fruit and vegetables were as follows: For men: True intake (5.8) vs All-Day screener (5.0), By-Meal screener (5.5), and FFQ (6.6); for women: true intake (4.2) vs All-Day screener (5.0), By-Meal screener (5.4), and FFQ (6.2). Estimated correlations between the test instruments and true intake were as follows: For men: All-Day screener (0.66), By-Meal screener (0.67), FFQ (0.68); for women: All-Day screener (0.51), By-Meal screener (0.53), and FFQ (0.54).


CONCLUSIONS
Both screeners might be useful to estimate median intakes of fruit and vegetable servings in US populations, but they might be less useful in accurately ranking individuals. More research is needed before using the screeners in ethnic or low-literacy populations.
Thompson
Frances E
FE
National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892-7344, USA. Thompsof@mail.nih.gov
Subar
Amy F
AF
Smith
Albert F
AF
Midthune
Douglas
D
Radimer
Kathy L
KL
Kahle
Lisa L
LL
Kipnis
Victor
V
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004032:Diet; D004034:Diet Surveys; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014675:Vegetables