Objective:

To assess the validity of a 140-item semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire (SFFQ), in Mexican adolescents and adults.

Materials and methods:

Dietary intakes using a SFFQ and two 24-hour dietary recalls (24DRs), in nonconsecutive days during the same week were measured from 178 adolescents and 230 adults participating in the Mexican National Health and Nutrition Survey-2012.Validity was evaluated using correlation coefficients (CC),deattenuated CC, linear regression models, cross-classification analysis, and the Bland-Altman method.

Results:

In adults, deattenuated correlation coefficients between the SFFQ and the 24DRs ranged from 0.30 for folate to 0.61 for saturated fat. In addition, 63% adults and 62% adolescents were classified in the same and adjacent quartile of nutrient intake when comparing data from SFFQ and 24DRs.

Conclusions:

The SFFQ had moderate validity for energy, macronutrients and micronutrients. It also had good validity to rank individuals according to their dietary intake of different nutrients.