Using a short food frequency questionnaire to estimate dietary calcium consumption: A tool for patient education

Objective. To develop a short food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) assessing calcium intake and a prediction equation for estimating total calcium intake from the short FFQ. Methods. Data were collected from 536 women via mailed questionnaires at 3 time points. Stepwise regression analyses were used to identify those foods and beverages included in the Block Health Habits and History Questionnaire (HHHQ) that explained the most variance in participants' dietary calcium intake. A prediction equation was developed to estimate total calcium intake based only on information from the foods/beverages identified. Results. Calcium obtained from Is foods/beverages explained 97.2% of the variance in total calcium intake. The mean absolute difference between total calcium intake estimated from the 15 foods/beverages and the full HHHQ was less than 50 mg at each time point. Conclusion. Findings suggest theft a short FFQ carl provide estimates of total dietary calcium consumption comparable to the full Block HHHQ.