Relative validation of fruit and vegetable intake and fat intake among overweight and obese African-American women

Objective: To compare commonly used dietary screeners for fat intake and fruit and vegetable intake with 24 h dietary recalls among low-income, overweight and obese African-American women. Design: Three telephone interviews were completed; measures included two 24 h dietary recalls (a weekday and weekend day) using the Nutrition Data System for Research software, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System's (BRFSS) Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Module and the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Percentage Energy from Fat Screener. Setting: Participants were recruited from three federally qualified health centres in south-west Georgia, USA. Subjects: Participants (n 260) were African-American women ranging in age from 35 to 65 years. About half were unemployed (49·6%) and 58·7% had a high-school education or less. Most were obese (88·5%), with 39·6% reporting a BMI≥40·0 kg/m². Results: Mean fruit and vegetable intake reported from the 24 h dietary recall was 2·66 servings/d compared with 2·79 servings/d with the BRFSS measure. The deattenuated Pearson correlation was 0·22, with notable variation by weight status, education level and age. Mean percentage of energy from fat was 35·5% as reported from the 24 h dietary recall, compared with 33·0% as measured by the NCI fat screener. The deattenuated Pearson correlation was 0·38, also with notable variation by weight status, education level and age. Conclusions: Validity of brief dietary intake measures may vary by demographic characteristics of the sample. Additional measurement work may be needed to accurately measure dietary intake in obese African-American women.