Lack of efficacy of a food-frequency questionnaire in assessing dietary macronutrient intakes in subjects consuming diets of known composition

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Abstract
Background: We compared the validity of a semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire in assessing intakes of macronutrients (absolute amounts and percentages of energy) by 19 subjects fed natural-food diets of known composition. In small subsets (n = 5 or 6), we also tested 3-d diet records. Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of food-frequency questionnaires and diet records in subjects fed natural-food diets of known composition. Design: Each subject consumed 3 different diets for ≥6 wk and self-reported his or her food intake by using a food-frequency questionnaire and a diet record. The diets varied in their chemically analyzed contents of fat (15–35% energy), saturated fat (5–14%), monounsaturated fat (5–14.5%), polyunsaturated fat (2.5–10.5%), carbohydrate (49–68%), and cholesterol (108–348 mg/d). Results: The food-frequency questionnaire significantly underestimated fat, saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, and protein intakes and significantly overestimated carbohydrate intake with the high-fat diet. The percentage of energy from fat was significantly underestimated for the high-fat diet and significantly overestimated for the very-low-fat diet. Estimates from the food-frequency questionnaire differed significantly from actual intakes for fat (absolute and percentage), saturated fat (absolute and percentage), monounsaturated fat (absolute and percentage), and protein (percentage) in the high-fat diet and for polyunsaturated fat (absolute and percentage), saturated fat (percentage), fiber (absolute), and cholesterol (daily absolute; in mg/d) in the lower-fat diet. Estimates from the diet records better agreed with actual intakes than did estimates from the food-frequency questionnaire except for monounsaturated fat (absolute and percentage) in the high-fat diet and polyunsaturated fat (percentage) in the lower-fat diet and the very-low-fat diet. Conclusion: Our data indicated that the food-frequency questionnaire did not provide reliable estimates of absolute amounts of dietary fats or cholesterol.