JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Currently, methods used to collect dietary intake data in Ireland are inflexible to the needs of certain populations and this is reflected in the lack of high-quality nutrition and health data available for many population subgroups here. As the Irish population is becoming increasingly diverse there is an urgent need to understand habitual food intake and diet quality of different population subgroups in Ireland. Without accurate and reliable methods of collecting dietary intake, data from a diverse range of subgroups of the population, including foreign national and ethnic minority groups, will remain underrepresented in research. Foodbook24 is an existing online 24-hour dietary recall tool which has previously been validated for use within the general Irish adult population. Due to Foodbook24’s design it can facilitate the improved inclusion of dietary intake assessment in Ireland.

Objective:

To expand Foodbook24, improving the reliability and accuracy of dietary intake data collected amongst prominent nationalities in Ireland.

Methods:

This study consisted of three distinct parts: 1. Expansion of Foodbook24, 2. Testing the usability (Acceptability study), and 3. Examining the accuracy (Comparison study) of the updated Foodbook24 tool. To expand Foodbook24, national survey data from Brazil and Poland were reviewed and commonly consumed food items were added to the food list. All foods were translated into Polish and Portuguese. The Acceptability study used a qualitative approach whereby participants provided a visual record of their habitual diet. The Comparison study consisted of one 24-hour dietary recall using Foodbook24 and one interviewer-led recall completed on the same day, repeated again two weeks later. Comparison study data was analysed using Spearman correlations, Mann-Whitney U tests and kappa coefficients.

Results:

The expansion of the Foodbook24 food list resulted in n=546 additional foods. The Acceptability study reported 87% of foods listed by participants were available in the updated food list. From the Comparison study strong positive correlations across n=8 food groups (44% total food groups) and n=15 nutrients (58% total nutrients) were identified (r=0.70-0.99). Only intakes of “Potatoes and Potato Dishes” and “Nuts, Herbs and Seeds” significantly differed across methods of assessment, where correlations across these food groups were low (0.56 and 0.47 respectively). Incidence of food omissions varied by sample with Brazilian participants omitting a higher percentage of foods in self-administered recalls than other samples (23% among Brazilian vs. 12% among Irish sample).

Conclusions:

The updated food list is representative of most foods consumed by Brazilian, Irish and Polish adults in Ireland. Dietary intake data reported in Foodbook24 is not largely different from food group and nutrient intakes reported via traditional methods. This study has demonstrated that Foodbook24 may be appropriate for use in future research investigating the dietary intakes of Brazilian, Irish, and Polish groups in Ireland.