First evaluation steps of a new method for dietary intake estimation regarding a list of key food groups in adults and in different sociodemographic and health-related behaviour strata

Abstract

Objective: A new method known as ‘current-day dietary recall’ (current-day recall) is based on an application for mobile phones called ‘electronic 12 h dietary recall’ (e-12HR). This new method was designed to rank participants into categories of habitual intake regarding a series of key food groups. The present study compared current-day recall against a previously validated short paper FFQ. Design: Participants recorded the consumption of selected food groups using e-12HR during twenty-eight consecutive days and then filled out a short paper FFQ at the end of the study period. To evaluate the association and agreement between both methods, Spearman’s correlation coefficients (SCC), crossclassification analysis and weighted kappa statistics (κw) were used. Setting: Andalusia, Spain, Southern Europe. Subjects: University students and employees over the age of 18 years. Results: One hundred and eighty-seven participants completed the study (64·2 % female, 35·8 % male). For all particpants, for all food group intakes, the mean SCC was 0·70 (SCC≥0·62 were observed for all strata); the mean percentage of participants cross-classified into categories of ‘exact agreement + adjacent’ was 90·1 % (percentages ≥87·8 % were observed for all strata); and the mean κw was 0·55 (κw ≥0·53 in ten of the twelve strata). Conclusions: For the whole sample and for all strata thereof, the current-day recall has good agreement with the previously validated short paper FFQ for assessing food group intakes, rendering it a useful method for ranking individuals.