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Why do experts recommend FFQ? How this tool affects public health research!
A food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) is a dietary assessment tool designed to estimate the frequency of food and beverage consumption, and in some cases portion size, over a period of time (e.g., the past month, three months, or year). It is widely used in large epidemiological nutrition and health studies. FFQs can help experts assess the intake of vitamins and other nutrients, detect the intake of toxins, and estimate the prevalence of specific dietary patterns such as vegetarianism.
FFQ Structure and Data Collection
FFQs typically include questions about a series of food and beverage items. For each item, the following may be asked:
Frequency of consumption (with options ranging from "never" to very infrequently to several times a day).
Information on portion size, which may be expressed as the number of portions consumed per time or as the total number of portions.
Some questionnaires may include pictures of food portions to improve reporting accuracy.
In addition to food and beverages, FFQs often ask about the frequency and dosage of common dietary supplements.
FFQ types and administration formats
FFQs are usually 80 to 120 food and beverage items long and take about 30 to 60 minutes to complete. FFQs can be administered by interviewers depending on the respondent's situation. This tool is usually designed for individual use and is not suitable for family use.
Based on the content, FFQs can be divided into two types:
- Non-quantitative FFQ: only frequency information is collected.
- Semi-quantitative FFQ: both frequency and portion information are collected.
Relationship with other dietary assessment tools
FFQs are a common method for dietary assessment and are often compared with other dietary assessment tools, such as the 24-hour dietary recall. Compared with FFQ, 24-hour dietary recall requires detailed records of all foods and beverages consumed by respondents in the past 24 hours. Although 24-hour recall provides a more detailed record, FFQ is more advantageous in assessing occasional food intake.
FFQ can better capture occasional or sporadic food consumption, especially in a specific time period.
Advantages and Disadvantages of FFQ
FFQ has many advantages over weighted dietary records (such as weighted dietary diaries): they do not directly affect the eating behavior of respondents. Weighted dietary records often affect the eating habits of participants. However, FFQ also has its limitations, mainly reflected in memory and social desirability bias, and many respondents may tend to exaggerate the consumption of healthy foods.
Data Analysis and Application
FFQ can be used not only to assess the intake of specific food groups, but also to conduct extensive group analysis. For example:
- Estimate the total intake of specific foods or nutrients.
- Estimate the association between food consumption patterns and health conditions or specific diseases.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of dietary interventions.
Criticisms and Challenges of FFQ
Although FFQ has many advantages, its inefficiency is indeed a target of criticism. Researchers believe that when using FFQ, it needs to be verified by other more reliable dietary assessment methods.
The validity of FFQ needs to be verified in combination with other dietary assessment tools to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data.
In general, FFQ plays an important role in public health research, although they also face many challenges. So, in the future, can we find more effective methods to improve the accuracy and reliability of dietary assessment?
