The present study assessed both the food list adequacy and the portion size distribution of each item of the short version of a food frequency questionnaire for programs of chronic diseases prevention. For this analysis, a one-day dietary recall (1-DR) was obtained with a sample of 212 health workers randomly selected during a pilot study for a program to combat smoking. The food list evaluation was based on the contribution of some nutrients to the total population intake estimated by the 1-DR. The portion sizes of the food frequency questionnaire items was classified in small, medium and large, according to the distribution of weights equivalent to the measures recorded in the 1-DR (percentiles 25, 50 and 75, respectively).
food frequency questionnaire; food consumption; epidemiologic methods; nutritional epidemiology; nutritional surveys
