Validation of a food choice map with a 3-day food record and serum values to assess folate and vitamin B-12 intake in college-aged women.

Background: Estimates of dietary folate and vitamin B-12 intakes are currently of considerable interest, but a valid assessment method that is faster than those currently available would better suit everyday health promotion activities.

Objective: To validate a new assessment technique for estimating folate and vitamin B-12 intakes, known as the Food Choice Map (FCM), using serum folate and vitamin B-12 concentrations in a group of 95 women aged 18 to 25 years.

Design: The FCM tool was used in a cross-sectional study design to estimate the usual folate and vitamin B-12 intakes of each participant. Immediately thereafter, blood samples were taken to determine serum folate and vitamin B-12 concentrations. Subsequently, 3-day food records were completed during each of three successive weeks and used as the reference method. Using the method of triads, validity coefficients were calculated.

Results: There was no significant difference between the two methods in the correlations with serum values. FCM-obtained folate intakes (r=0.43, P<0.01) exhibited a similar and moderate association with serum folate as did 3-day food record-obtained folate intakes (r=0.39, P<0.01). Similarly, vitamin B-12 intakes obtained from both techniques showed a modest association with serum vitamin B-12 (FCM r=0.40, P<0.01; 3-day food record r=0.44, P<0.01). However, the validity coefficient for the FCM was higher than that for the 3-day food record for both folate (FCM 0.97, 3-day food record 0.79) and B-12 (FCM 0.95; 3-day food record 0.85).

Conclusions: This study provides validation for the use of a new dietary assessment method, the FCM, for estimating folate and vitamin B-12 intakes in women of reproductive age. Larger validation studies that include men and other age groups are needed to further characterize the applicability of the FCM.