Dietary evaluation and attenuation of relative risk: multiple comparisons between blood and urinary biomarkers, food frequency, and 24-hour recall questionnaires: the DEARR study.

Estimates of diet-disease relative risks (RRs) suffer from inaccuracies introduced by dietary measurement errors. Using the "method of triads," by which the validity coefficient (VC) of the dietary assessment method and "true" long-term intake could be estimated from 3 pairwise correlations between the FFQ, the reference method, and the biomarker, the authors evaluated the performance of a newly developed FFQ. Over a period of 13 mo (September 2000 to September 2001), 161 participants completed 3 FFQs and six 24-h recalls (24HRs), and supplied 2 blood samples and three 24-h urine collections. For protein, beta-carotene, and folic acid, the VCs of the FFQ with the "true intake" (0.77, 0.65, and 0.72, respectively) were relatively higher than the VCs of 24HRs (0.68, 0.60 and 0.39, respectively). Among the biomarkers, the VCs of serum beta-carotene and folic acid with the "true intake" (0.65 and 0.65) were higher than the VCs of urinary nitrogen and alpha-tocopherol (0.44 and 0.34, respectively). The DEARR study showed that the newly developed FFQ is a valid and reproducible instrument for assessing dietary intake. The VCs obtained can be used for future adjustment of diet-disease RR estimates in this population.

Adaptation of international nutrition databases and data-entry system tools to a specific population.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a nutritional dietary intake database based on available reliable international nutritional databases adapted to the local needs of a specific population. DESIGN: The Negev Nutritional Study (NNS) is a survey of a random sample of the Negev population regarding their dietary intake using 24-hour dietary recalls. A nutritional database for the Israeli population was developed based on adaptation and modification of the US Department of Agriculture's database. A data-entry system was developed based on the logic of the US Food Information Analysis System. The system was designed as bilingual (English and Hebrew). Local foods and recipes were collected during the NNS, which included 1465 24-hour diet interviews. RESULTS: During the course of the NNS, 383 basic Israeli recipes were constructed. In total 1362 Israeli products were added to the database, and each was given a code, specific gravity and portion size. Most of the added products were cereals and grains and dairy products. The added recipes were collected from the interviewees in the NNS and from the most popular cookbooks. CONCLUSIONS: This paper describes the process undertaken to develop an Israeli food composition database as well as the data-entry system. This knowledge may aid other research groups in developing a computerised, nation-specific nutritional database and data-entry system adapted to their own specific local needs.