Fluoride intake from food items in 2- to 6-year-old Brazilian children living in a non-fluoridated area using a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire.

Background: Estimating fluoride intake (FI) using the 'duplicate plate' method is difficult and can raise ethical dilemmas.

Aim: To apply a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) to 2- to 6-year-old Brazilian children in a non-fluoridated area (i) to estimate their FI and (ii) to provide additional validity to the questionnaire by comparing the results obtained with those found previously in a fluoridated municipality.

Design: The FFQ was administered to parents of 398 children residing in a non-fluoridated community. Constituents of the diet were divided into solids, water and other beverages and their fluoride content was analysed with the electrode. Data were analysed using unpaired t-test.

Results: The mean (±SD) FIs from solids, water and other beverages were 0.009 ± 0.004, 0.001 ± 0.001 and 0.007 ± 0.007 mg F/kg body weight/day, respectively, totalling 0.017 ± 0.009 mg F/kg body weight/day. Total FI from food/beverage items ingested in the non-fluoridated area was significantly lower than that observed in a study previously conducted in a fluoridated area (P < 0.0001).

Conclusions: This result reinforces the use of the FFQ as a promising alternative to duplicate diet in order to estimate FI in children in this age range, with potential application in broad epidemiological surveys.