3019.0: Monday, November 13, 2000 - Board 10

Abstract #15809

Harvard food frequency questionnaire: A service and research tool

Robin E. Blum, AB, Departments of Nutrition and Maternal and Child Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Channing Laboratory, 181 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, 617-432-2723, rblum@hsph.harvard.edu, Carol W. Suitor, ScD, RD, Nutrition/Maternal & Child Health Consultant, 10 Prospect Street, Northfield, VT 05663, Helaine RH Rockett, MS, RD, Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 181 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, Jane D. Gardner, ScD, RN, Department of Maternal and Child Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, SPH3-611, Boston, MA 02115, and Graham A. Colditz, DrPH, MD, Departments of Medicine and Epidemiology, Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health, Channing Laboratory, 181 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115.

Overview: The Harvard Food Frequency Questionnaire (HFFQ) was developed to assess the diets of low-income women and subsequently modified as a dietary assessment tool for children and youth. It is a total of 103 items, including 84 foods and 19 questions about food habits, supplements, and services.

The HFFQ is useful for health service programs as well as research. Program uses include individual client diet assessment (eligibility for programs, nutrition counseling, and change in diet over time) as well as population data (nutrition surveillance and program planning). Research uses include relation of diet to wellness or disease, program evaluation, and descriptive studies.

Current uses include dietary assessment in three state WIC programs, epidemiologic research on the association of n-3 fatty acids with birth outcomes and fetal alcohol syndrome in African American women, as well as epidemiology and intervention studies of lead poisoning in children.

Conclusion: The Harvard Food Frequency Questionnaire is a simple, self-administered questionnaire useful for service and research purposes that has the potential to provide important nutritional information for program planning, research, education, and intervention purposes.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session the participant (learner) will be able to: 1. Describe the development of the Harvard Food Frequency Questionnaire; 2. List multiple uses of the Harvard Food Frequency Questionnaire; 3. Recognize that the Harvard Food Frequency Questionnaire is a simple, self-administered questionnaire that is useful for diet assessment for both service and research purposes; 4. Recognize that the Harvard Food Frequency questionnaire has the potential to provide important nutritional information for program planning, research, education, and intervention purposes

Keywords: Dietary Assessment, Information Databases

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

The 128th Annual Meeting of APHA