Evaluation of web-based, self-administered, graphical food frequency questionnaire.

Computer-administered food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) can address limitations inherent in paper questionnaires by allowing very complex skip patterns, portion size estimation based on food pictures, and real-time error checking. We evaluated a web-based FFQ, the Graphical Food Frequency System (GraFFS). Participants completed the GraFFS, six telephone-administered 24-hour dietary recalls over the next 12 weeks, followed by a second GraFFS.

New technology in dietary assessment: a review of digital methods in improving food record accuracy.

Methods for conducting dietary assessment in the United States date back to the early twentieth century. Methods of assessment encompassed dietary records, written and spoken dietary recalls, FFQ using pencil and paper and more recently computer and internet applications. Emerging innovations involve camera and mobile telephone technology to capture food and meal images.

Validation of a novel physical activity assessment device in morbidly obese females.

Assessment of physical activity in morbidly obese subjects is important especially in bariatric surgery. We examined the validity of Intelligent Device for Energy Expenditure and Activity (IDEEA) for measuring physical activity and sedentary behavior in morbidly obese women. Activity types, gait counts, and speed detected by the IDEEA monitor were compared to those reported by an observer.

Development of the Iowa bone nutrient food frequency questionnaire based on data from the US Department of Agriculture Continuing Survey of the Food Intake by Individuals.

An easily administered food frequency questionnaire (FFQ)/dietary screener was developed for current (adult) and retrospective (adolescent) intakes of nutrients important for bone development and maintenance. This tool quantified serving sizes and nutrients from foods using gender and age specific techniques. Nutrients of interest were calcium, vitamin D, caffeine and alcohol, and 15 categories of foods were selected for inclusion based on frequency of intake and nutrient density.

Relative validity of the Iowa Fluoride Study targeted nutrient semi-quantitative questionnaire and the block kids' food questionnaire for estimating beverage, calcium, and vitamin D intakes by children.

Objective: Food frequency questionnaires are commonly developed and subsequently used to investigate relationships between dietary intake and disease outcomes; such tools should be validated in the population of interest. We investigated the relative validities of the Iowa Fluoride Study targeted nutrient semi-quantitative questionnaire and Block Kids' Food Questionnaire in assessing beverage, calcium, and vitamin D intakes using 3-day diaries for reference.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Considerations for selecting a dietary assessment system.

The software available with some food composition databases allows for the dietary assessment of individuals and groups and may provide graphic comparisons of nutrient intakes to dietary standards. Four factors to consider when choosing a computerized dietary assessment system are availability of desired database features, efficiency of the search engine in finding foods in the database, educational value of the output, and cost of purchasing and updating the software. Printed output should clearly characterize dietary adequacy with graphs or simple tables.

Food composition data: the foundation of dietetic practice and research.

Food composition databases and dietary assessment systems are important tools for food and nutrition professionals. The availability and accessibility of data have improved over time along with the technology to convert the information into useful formats for planning diets, writing educational materials, counseling patients, and conducting research. Primary sources of food composition data include government, academic, and other institutional databases; the food industry; and scientific literature.

Design, feasibility, and acceptability of an intervention using personal digital assistant-based self-monitoring in managing type 2 diabetes.

Background: The information processing demands associated with behavioral self-management of diabetes are extensive. Pairing personal digital assistant (PDA)-based self-monitoring with a behavioral self-management intervention may improve adherence and patient outcomes.

Methods: ENHANCE is a randomized controlled trial to test an intervention designed to improve regimen adherence in adults with type 2 diabetes.

Ability of the normal human small intestine to absorb fructose: evaluation by breath testing.

Background & Aims: Fructose consumption is increasing, and its malabsorption causes common gastrointestinal symptoms. Because its absorption capacity is poorly understood, there is no standard method of assessing fructose absorption. We performed a dose-response study of fructose absorption in healthy subjects to develop a breath test to distinguish normal from abnormal fructose absorption capacity.

Influence of intervention on beverage choices: trends in the dietary intervention study in children (DISC).

Objective: To compare treatment, sex, and visit differences in beverage choice and calcium intake in the Dietary Intervention Study in Children, to compare the relationship of other beverages to milk consumption, and document whether or not the dietary intervention affected choice of beverage and milk type over time.

Design: Data from the Dietary Intervention Study in Children, a randomized, controlled, multicenter, clinical trial with five sets of three 24-hour recalls.

Subjects: Six hundred fifty-three children from six clinics started the study at age 8 to 10 years.

Randomized controlled trial of biofeedback, sham feedback, and standard therapy for dyssynergic defecation.

Background & Aims: Constipation is a common disorder, and current treatments are generally unsatisfactory. Biofeedback might help patients with constipation and dyssynergic defecation, but its efficacy is unproven, and whether improvements are due to operant conditioning or personal attention is unknown.

Methods: In a prospective randomized trial, we investigated the efficacy of biofeedback (manometric-assisted anal relaxation, muscle coordination, and simulated defecation training; biofeedback) with either sham feedback therapy (sham) or standard therapy (diet, exercise, laxatives; standard) in 77 subjects (69 women) with chronic constipation and dyssynergic defecation.

Dietary and medical therapy of obesity.

Surgery is not a cure for obesity but is an effective tool for limiting food consumption. If severely obese patients do not respond to a treatment plan that includes nutritional, exercise, and behavioral interventions plus antiobesity drugs, bariatric surgery may be appropriate. Proper diet selection after bariatric surgery involves more than the energy value and macronutrient composition.

Diet quality in young children is influenced by beverage consumption.

Background: Replacement of milk with sugar-containing beverages could affect calcium intake and overall diet quality.

Objective: To describe dairy food, 100% juice and added sugar beverage intakes, contributions of dairy foods to diet quality, and effects of beverages on diet quality in young children.

Methods: We surveyed participants in the Iowa Fluoride Study (n = 645) at ages 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 years and calculated intakes for 1-5 years (i.

Effect of hyperhomocysteinemia induced by methionine administration on flow-mediated dilatation of the brachial artery in healthy subjects.

Homocysteine may contribute to systolic hypertension and cardiac events by decreasing conduit artery compliance and inducing endothelial dysfunction. The effects of the experimental induction of hyperhomocysteinemia on systemic arterial compliance and pulsewave velocity are unclear, with contradictory results from previous studies. The investigators tested whether oral methionine impairs brachial artery compliance in addition to endothelial function.

Raising Medical Students' Awareness of Nutrition and Fitness in Disease Prevention: Nutrition and Fitness Program at the University of Iowa.

At the University of Iowa we devised a learning experience, called the Nutrition and Fitness Program, for third-year medical students. The program was designed to raise awareness of the role of nutrition and exercise in the prevention and treatment of disease. Students spent one afternoon learning about their personal health risk factors, such as body mass index, percent body fat, other anthropometric measures such as waist, hip and mid-arm circumference, blood lipids, bone-mass density, dietary analysis, and fitness assessment.

Associations between Intakes of fluoride from beverages during infancy and dental fluorosis of primary teeth.

Objective: We describe associations between primary tooth fluorosis status and intakes of beverages and fluoride from these beverages during infancy.

Methods: Subjects (n = 677) are members of the Iowa Fluoride Study, a cohort of young children followed from birth. Food and nutrient intakes were obtained from 3-day diet records.

Adolescents eating diets rich in either lean beef or lean poultry and fish reduced fat and saturated fat intake and those eating beef maintained serum ferritin status.

Reducing red meat intake to lower serum cholesterol may also lower iron and zinc intake. Eighty-six seventh and eighth graders who enrolled in a study comparing serum ferritin, zinc, and cholesterol levels were randomized to a low-fat eating pattern emphasizing either lean beef or lean poultry and fish. Serum data and three 24-hour recalls were collected at baseline and 3 months.

3-Hydroxypropionic acid and methylcitric acid are not reliable indicators of marginal biotin deficiency in humans.

In two studies comprising 10 and 11 subjects, respectively, marginal biotin deficiency was induced experimentally by an egg-white diet in healthy men and women. The following urinary organic acids were assessed for their usefulness in detecting marginal biotin status: 1) 3-hydroxypropionic acid and methylcitric acid, organic acids that reflect decreased activity of the biotin-dependent enzyme propionyl-CoA carboxylase and 2) methylcrotonylglycine and isovalerylglycine, organic acids that reflect decreased activity of methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase. Mean 3-hydroxypropionic acid excretion rates remained normal during biotin depletion in both studies.

Patterns of beverage consumption during the transition stage of infant nutrition.

We describe beverage intakes during the transition stage of infant nutrition. Mean daily intakes of infant formula, cow's milk, combined juice and juice drinks, water, and other beverages estimated from a beverage frequency questionnaire were analyzed cross-sectionally at ages six through 24 months (n=701). Most children (97%) consumed human milk, infant formula, or cows' milk at each age studied.

Dental caries and beverage consumption in young children.

Objective: Dental caries is a common, chronic disease of childhood. The impact of contemporary changes in beverage patterns, specifically decreased milk intakes and increased 100% juice and soda pop intakes, on dental caries in young children is unknown. We describe associations among caries experience and intakes of dairy foods, sugared beverages, and nutrients and overall diet quality in young children.

Relative validation of a beverage frequency questionnaire in children ages 6 months through 5 years using 3-day food and beverage diaries.

Objective: To determine the relative validity of a quantitative beverage frequency questionnaire in assessing beverage, calcium, and vitamin D intakes using 3-day food diaries for reference.

Design: Parents were asked to complete questionnaires for the preceding week and diaries for the following week for their children. Calcium and vitamin D intakes were estimated from human milk, infant formulas, and cow's milk ("beverages") for questionnaires and diaries and from "all foods and beverages" for diaries.

Oral health, nutrient intake and dietary quality in the very old.

Background: Limited food choices and inadequate nutrient intake are linked to poor oral health. The authors describe relationships between dietary variety, nutrient intake and oral health measures in community-dwelling, rural Iowans aged 79 years and older.

Methods: Dental examinations were conducted by trained and calibrated examiners, and trained interviewers completed standardized interviews in subjects' homes.