Giovanna Maria Clelia Turconi

An evaluation of a colour food photography atlas as a tool for quantifying food portion size in epidemiological dietary surveys.

Objective:To test the validity of a colour food photography atlas for quantifying portion size eaten compared with weighed foods.Design:The colour food photography atlas was prepared by cooking, weighing and taking digital photographs of three portion sizes of 434 foods and beverages typical of the Italian diet.Subjects and interventions:In all, 448 male and female volunteers aged 6–60u2009y from a wide variety of social backgrounds completed 9075 assessments of food portions eaten at lunch and dinner in relation to a set of colour food photographs during 8 weeks of investigation. The amounts of foods eaten by individuals in five different cafeterias in Pavia, Northern Italy, were weighed by trained investigators at the time of serving and, within 5–10u2009min of the end of the meal, each subject was asked to quantify all foods consumed with reference to one of the three food photographs or in terms of virtual portions among those shown in the photographs.Results:Multiple regression analysis shows that weights of portion sizes chosen from the set of photographs are significantly associated (P<0.05) to weights of eaten portions (β=0.81; R2=0.70) and are independent of age, gender and BMI. The differences between mean weights of the portions chosen by individuals from photographs and mean weights of eaten foods are significant for all food categories (P<0.05), except for bread. However, because of the very large number of observations, the mean differences are very small (range: from +23.2u2009g (+11.2%) for first courses to −1.3u2009g (−2.7%) for bread). Bland–Altman plots show that first courses limits of agreement are wide because the dispersion is increasing while weights are rising.Conclusions:The use of a series of three photographs and virtual portion sizes being associated with relatively small errors, our findings support the validity of using this colour food photography atlas as a tool for quantifying food portion size in epidemiological dietary surveys on different age groups of Italian subjects.

Reliability of a dietary questionnaire on food habits, eating behaviour and nutritional knowledge of adolescents

Objective: To develop a dietary questionnaire on food habits, eating behaviour and nutrition knowledge of adolescents and to examine its reliability.Design: A cross-sectional baseline survey. The questionnaire was self-administered to study participants twice with 7 days between each administration.Setting: A school community in Pavia, Italy.Subjects: A group of students (n=72, aged 14–17u2009y, both sexes) studying in a secondary school in the second year of the course were invited to compile a dietary questionnaire during school time. Informed written consent was obtained from each subject and their parents. Subjects were initially recruited for a nutrition intervention; recruitment was opportunistic and school based.Statistical analyses: Reliability was assessed using the Cronbachs alpha and the Pearson correlation coefficients.Results: Cronbachs alpha ranges from a minimum of 0.55 to a maximum of 0.75, indicating that only two sections have a poor internal consistency. The Pearson correlation coefficients range from a minimum of 0.78 to a maximum of 0.88, indicating a very good temporal stability of the questionnaire. All the Pearson correlation coefficients are statistically significant with P<0.01.Conclusions: The present questionnaire has the potential to measure the effects of nutrition interventions on adolescents because of its stability in making comparisons over time. The instruments is low in cost and easy to administer and analyse; moreover, it could be modified appropriately to fit the needs of other populations as well.

Relationship between smoking and metabolic syndrome

Obesity and smoking are important causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The diseases and conditions associated with smoking make tobacco use one of the leading causes of death worldwide. In the World Health Organization European region, overweight and obesity are responsible for many chronic diseases, causing more than one million deaths each year. Smoking cessation is associated with a significantly reduced mortality risk in every body-mass-index group. Reductions in smoking and obesity would increase both the psychophysical well-being of the population and its economic productivity; it would also reduce the direct costs of pharmacological therapies and other forms of treatment. The aim of this review is to critically evaluate how tobacco smoking and obesity interact to reduce life expectancy, and to offer a comprehensive view of this issue that should be useful for clinical practice.

Reliability and relative validity of a quantitative food-frequency questionnaire for use among adults in Italian population.

Our objective was to assess the reliability and relative validity of a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) among adult people. In a cross-sectional study carried out in northern Italy, 112 adults were recruited. A total of 189 food and drink items were selected according to those typically consumed by Italians. FFQ reliability was assessed by two repeated administrations at 6 weeks. The FFQ was validated using four 24-h recalls repeated in the same period of time. For the validation study, classification into quartiles from the two methods and Bland–Altman plot were also performed. The reliability study showed a good correlation between the two methods. Bland–Altman plots showed that the two methods are very likely to agree for individual energy and macronutrient intakes. The reliability and relative validity of this FFQ was good, supporting its use in assessing dietary intakes of Italians in nutritional surveillance programs and in epidemiological dietary surveys.