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Validity of food frequency questionnaire-based estimates of long-term long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid intake

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Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate how long-term dietary intake of long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCn-3 PUFAs), estimated by repeated food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) over 15 years, is correlated with LCn-3 PUFAs in adipose tissue (AT).

Methods

Subcutaneous adipose tissue was obtained in 2003–2004 (AT-03) from 239 randomly selected women, aged 55–75 years, after completion of a 96-item FFQ (FFQ-03). All participants had previously returned an identical FFQ in 1997 (FFQ-97) and a 67-item version in 1987–1990 (FFQ-87). Pearson product-moment correlations were used to evaluate associations between intake of total and individual LCn-3 PUFAs as estimated by the three FFQ assessments and AT-03 content (% of total fatty acids).

Results

FFQ-estimated mean relative intake of LCn-3 PUFAs (% of total fat intake) increased between all three assessments (FFQ-87, 0.55 ± 0.34; FFQ-97, 0.74 ± 0.64; FFQ-03, 0.88 ± 0.56). Validity, in terms of Pearson correlations between FFQ-03 estimates and AT-03 content, was 0.41 (95 % CI 0.30–0.51) for total LCn-3 PUFA and ranged from 0.29 to 0.48 for individual fatty acids; lower correlation was observed among participants with higher percentage body fat. With regard to long-term intake estimates, past dietary intake was also correlated with AT-03 content, with correlation coefficients in the range of 0.21–0.33 and 0.21–0.34 for FFQ-97 and FFQ-87, respectively. The correlations were improved by using average estimates from two or more FFQ assessments. Exclusion of fish oil supplement users (14 %) did not alter the correlations.

Conclusion

These data indicate reasonable validity of FFQ-based estimates of long-term (up to 15 years) LCn-3 PUFA intake, justifying their use in studies of diet-disease associations.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (FORMAS). The authors thank Siv Tengblad for analyzing the adipose tissue samples.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Nutritional Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Box 210, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden

    Alice Wallin, Daniela Di Giuseppe, Ann Burgaz, Niclas Håkansson & Alicja Wolk

  2. Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Tommy Cederholm

  3. Department of Surgical Sciences, Section of Orthopedics, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Karl Michaëlsson

Authors
  1. Alice Wallin
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  2. Daniela Di Giuseppe
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  3. Ann Burgaz
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  4. Niclas Håkansson
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  5. Tommy Cederholm
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  6. Karl Michaëlsson
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  7. Alicja Wolk
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Correspondence to Alicja Wolk.

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Wallin, A., Di Giuseppe, D., Burgaz, A. et al. Validity of food frequency questionnaire-based estimates of long-term long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid intake. Eur J Nutr 53, 549–555 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-013-0563-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-013-0563-1

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