Desarrollo de un instrumento para evaluar la dieta en niños y adolescentes colombianos

Abstract

Objectives: to develop a food frequency questionnaire useful in the epidemiological investigation of the relationships, diet-cancer, die-cardiovascular disease, and diet-nutritional status in children and adolescents. Methods: sixty-two subjects between 10 and 20 years old answered a recall of intake of the last 24 hours. Using the method Max_r foods were selected to estimate intake of 12 nutrients, with discriminating power, related to chronic diseases. Results: the questionnaire has two sections. They inquire about the frequency of consumption in nine categories. A total of 22 foods are part of the checklist of the first section. A total of 43 items are part of the second section that looks into practices and habits of public health interest. All coefficients r obtained for nutrients of interest were above 0.90, minimum 0.94, maximum 1.0. The minimum was for folic acid, the maximum for the total fat, polyunsaturated fat and vitamin A (IU). Conclusions: the design of this questionnaire will enable epidemiological studies to explore the diet-cancer relationships, die-cardiovascular disease, and diet-nutritional status. It will facilitate the design, implementation and evaluation of individual and population interventions.