Validation of nutrient intake using an FFQ and repeated 24 h recalls in black and white subjects of the Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2)

Objective: To validate a 204-item quantitative FFQ for measurement of nutrient intake in the Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2). Design: Calibration study participants were randomly selected from the AHS-2 cohort by church, and then subject-within-church. Each participant provided two sets of three weighted 24 h dietary recalls and a 204-item FFQ. Race-specific correlation coefficients (r), corrected for attenuation from within-person variation in the recalls, were calculated for selected energy-adjusted macro- and micronutrients. Setting: Adult members of the AHS-2 cohort geographically spread throughout the USA and Canada. Subjects: Calibration study participants included 461 blacks of American and Caribbean origin and 550 whites. Results: Calibration study subjects represented the total cohort very well with respect to demographic variables. Approximately 33% were males. Whites were older, had higher education and lower BMI compared with blacks. Across fifty-one variables, average deattenuated energy-adjusted validity correlations were 0.60 in whites and 0.52 in blacks. Individual components of protein had validity ranging from 0.40 to 0.68 in blacks and from 0.63 to 0.85 in whites; for total fat and fatty acids, validity ranged from 0.43 to 0.75 in blacks and from 0.46 to 0.77 in whites. Of the eighteen micronutrients assessed, sixteen in blacks and sixteen in whites had deatttenuated energy-adjusted correlations >= 0.4, averaging 0.60 and 0.53 in whites and blacks, respectively. Conclusions: With few exceptions validity coefficients were moderate to high for macronutrients, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals and fibre. We expect to successfully use these data for measurement error correction in analyses of diet and disease risk.