Validation of a semi-quantitative FFQ for 18-month-old toddlers : the Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) study
Objective: Dietary intake of toddlers has been of growing interest due to its long-term consequences on health. However, previous works have focused largely on Caucasian populations and less is known about Asian toddlers. We aimed to validate a semi-quantitative FFQ designed to assess dietary intakes of 18-month-old toddlers in a multi-ethnic Asian cohort. Design: An FFQ of ninety-four food items, identified based on food records of 12-month-old GUSTO children, the Southampton Women's Survey 12 Month Infancy Questionnaire and inputs from paediatric dietitians, was filled out two weeks before the 18th-month clinic visit. As the reference method, two non-consecutive 24 h recalls (24HR) were administered during and two weeks after the clinic visit. FFQ nutrient intakes were validated against averaged 24HR nutrient intakes, using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Spearman's rank-order correlation, cross-classification and the Bland–Altman method. Setting: Data from the Singapore Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) mother–offspring birth cohort. Participants: Toddlers (n 188) aged 18 months. Results: Absolute nutrient intakes from the FFQ were significantly higher than from the 24HR, except for vitamin A. After energy adjustments, r range was 0·56–0·78 (macronutrients) and 0·40–0·54 (micronutrients). De-attenuation increased r to 0·58–0·96 and 0·45–0·65 for macro- and micronutrients, respectively. Of participants, ≥82·4 % (macronutrients) and ≥77·7 % (micronutrients) were classified in the same and adjacent quartiles. No clear systematic increase in intake differences with increasing mean intake was observed in Bland–Altman plots. Conclusions: This FFQ can provide a satisfactory assessment of toddlers' energy-adjusted nutrient intakes, as well as accurately rank them in a group. ; Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) ; Ministry of Health (MOH) ; National Medical Research Council (NMRC) ; National Research Foundation (NRF) ; Published version ; This research is supported by the Singapore National Research Foundation under its Translational and Clinical Research (TCR) Flagship Programme and administered by the Singapore Ministry of Health's National Medical Research Council (NMRC), Singapore (grant numbers NMRC/TCR/004-NUS/2008 and NMRC/TCR/012-NUHS/2014). K.M.G. is supported by the UK Medical Research Council (grant number MC_UU_12011/4); the National Institute for Health Research (as an NIHR Senior Investigator (grant number NF-SI-0515-10042) and through the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre); and the European Union's Erasmus+ Capacity-Building ENeASEA Project and Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013), projects EarlyNutrition and ODIN (grant agreement numbers 289346 and 613977). Additional funding is provided by the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore.