Development and Evaluation of a Brief Questionnaire to Assess Dietary Fat Quality in Low-income Overweight Women in the Southern United States

ObjectiveTo develop a brief questionnaire to assess dietary fat quality, the Dietary Fat Quality Assessment (DFQA), for use in dietary counseling to reduce heart disease risk.MethodsA subsample of 120 underserved, midlife women enrolled in a randomized, controlled weight loss trial completed baseline and follow-up telephone surveys. Main outcome measures included dietary fat components (total fat, saturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, monounsaturated fat, omega-3 fatty acids, and cholesterol).ResultsAssessments of major dietary fat components using the DFQA and a food frequency questionnaire were significantly correlated, with correlation coefficients of 0.54–0.66 (P < .001). Intra-class correlation coefficients to assess reliability ranged from 0.48 to 0.59 for each of the fat components studied.Conclusions and ImplicationsThe DFQA provides a reasonable assessment of dietary fat quality associated with coronary heart disease risk and may prove useful as a brief assessment tool to guide dietary counseling given to reduce heart disease risk.